27th May, 2015
The families of the victims of 2012 Dana plane crash on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to ensure that victims’ families that were yet to get their compensation were fully paid.
Mr Paul Okwulehie, chairman, families of victims, made the call on behalf of the families when he briefed newsmen on the 3rd Anniversary of the crash on Wednesday in Abuja.
NAN recalls that on June 3, 2012, a Lagos-bound Dana Air from Abuja crashed into a two-storey building at Ishaga, Lagos, killing all 153 passengers on board.
Okwulehie said the families representatives decided to come together to commemorate the incident as well as draw the attention of government to the need for the safety of the nation’s airspace.
He said that the event was organised to bring to the consciousness of the country’s aviation authority, the need to ensure that the next air crash does not happen.
Okwulehie, however, commended President Goodluck Jonathan, for the compassion he showed them, as well as Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state for being proactive during the crash.
He equally commended the leadership of the National Assembly, the judiciary and other eminent Nigerians for their kindness towards the victims’ families.
Okwulehie stated that there should be safety audit of all passenger aircraft flying in Nigeria to mitigate cases of air incidences and accidents.
He said that the accident report of all plane crashes in the country and the level of implementation of the recommendations of such reports should be made public.
According to him, all air accidents are 99 per cent preventable if adequate safety measures are taken and followed.
Okwulehie called for globally applied uniform standard for the aviation industry to ensure safety of air passengers
He said that countries should ensure globally acceptable standards were maintained to ensure that passengers’ safety in the air was guaranteed.
Okwulehie also called on countries to establish and show a regularly reviewed and updated emergency rescue plan to cover all possible accident scenarios based on current and projectable aviation history.
According to him, planes not usable in countries with the highest safety standards should not be sold to poorer countries that lack standard facility for optimal maintenance.
“Aviation standard should be globally regulated and uniformly enforced.
“We insist that carriers with poor safety record should not be awarded with best airline of any year since safety must be first in the aviation industry globally.
“There should be global and national effort to locate all missing passenger aircraft to establish the cause of such accidents.
“Global demand that the safety audit of all, including pilot experience and training, the passenger aircraft be made available to the flying public at all times globally.
“The digital tape based memory in FDR should be replaced with the solid state version in all aircraft flying in Nigeria to avoid being damaged by fire in the course of accident,” he said.