Reports: Senate Summons Aviation Minister Over Air Mishaps

The Senate has summoned the Minister of State Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to appear before lawmakers at Plenary and explain the reason for the recent air mishaps and near fatalities in the country.

A federal lawmaker, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, in a notion observed that there were two air mishaps in February 2018.

One of them he says involved a plane belonging to Dana airline which overshot the runway upon landing at the Port Harcourt airport.

The plane had flown to Port Harcourt from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in the nation’s capital Abuja.

But the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Henrietta Yakubu, explained the incident saying, “The incident was suspected to have been caused by a heavy rain, which was accompanied by strong wind and storm in Port Harcourt.

“No casualty was recorded, as all passengers on board were safely evacuated.

But the lawmaker, Senator Ashafa, has expressed concerned that these recent occurrences might be a sign of a sequence of human errors caused by the failure of officials and staff of agencies, to carry out due diligence before issuing clearance for aircraft to operate within the Nigerian airspace.