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| House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila |
House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has expressed worry about frequent non-combatant air crashes of the Nigerian Air Force.
He said these have created a huge loss to the nation and must be stopped.
The Speaker, who spoke at a public investigative hearing of the House Committee on Air Force, said it was unfortunate that between 2015 and 2019, about eight non-combatant crashes involving Air Force planes occurred across the country.
Represented by Deputy House Leader Peter Akpatason, the Speaker said the loss associated with the crashes was not acceptable.
He added that the crashes had created panic among Nigerians.
The Speaker said the House was conscious of NAF’s role in the nation’s security architecture and was willing to assist it in addressing its challenges to enable the service achieve optimal performance.
Gbajabiamila said: “The issue of national security challenges we face today presents a clear danger to our collective wellbeing. Insecurity destabilises the very foundation of our nation. It undermines our efforts at growing our economy and creating jobs.
“We cannot attract investment to communities where we cannot guarantee the security of lives and property. Insecurity, in all its dimension, deprives our people the ability to live full lives and our nation is poorer for it.
“That is why we are committed in this Ninth House of Representatives to achieving a new paradigm of safety and national security to ensure the protection of our lives, territorial integrity of the Nigerian state and finally, the protection of strategic assets wherever they may be.”
The Speaker also said NAF plays an important role in the nation’s security architecture by providing air support for ground forces, transporting materials and men, conducting recognisance mission to gather intelligence to support the security operations anywhere.
Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, expressed delight that the House was taking particular interest in areas where the service was having challenges in its operation.
He said: “It is only when we have tight security that we can go about pursuing our legitimate aspirations without difficulties.”
The CAS expressed delight that the lawmakers decided to “look into areas where we are having some drawbacks and you are interested in what is going on. I think that is the right way to follow”.
He added: “I want to, therefore, appreciate this initiative. I want to also say that for us in the Air Force, expensive airplanes would ensure that our people fly safe. In terms of quality of training, we have best quality of training; also in terms of spare parts and maintenance.”
Abubakar said from 30 per cent aircraft serviceability in 2015, the service had attained 70 per cent.
“So, personally, the government is doing everything humanly possible to support us and we are also doing everything humanly possible to ensure that life is saved. We have an armed forces attitude to safety that is particularly put in place on the issue of safe conduct for pilots and for those who are not pilots,” he said.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Air Force, Shehu Mohammed Koko, listed a number of crashes the NAF had recorded.
“On August 29, 2015, NAF’s Dornier 228 crashed in Kaduna. Similarly, on October 10, 2015, the F-7Nl crashed with one casualty, while on November 15, 2016, in Makurdi, Augusta Westland 101 helicopter crashed.
“On January 2, 2019, in Damasak, Borno State, the NAF Ml-35M helicopter crashed with five casualties, and on June 12, 2019, another NAF helicopter crashed in Katsina Airport with one instructor pilot as casualty.
“Also, on August 17, 2019, NAF’s Air Beetle aircraft crashed in Kaduna, and recently on November 14, 2019, a NAF helicopter crashed in Enugu.
