Keyamo's aide assures Xejet won't face grounding like Dana Air

Tunde Moshood, the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has disclosed that the Federal Government will not ground XEJET the way it did to Dana Air.

In a chat with The PUNCH on Monday, he noted that the government would wait for the report of the Nigeria Safety and Investigation Bureau before acting on the incident involving an aircraft belonging to XEJET last Saturday.

Like XEJET, Dana Air’s aircraft skidded off the runway at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in April.

Less than 24 hours after the Dana incident, Keyamo ordered the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to suspend the airline’s operating licence immediately.

On Saturday, a Xejet airplane with 52 passengers onboard departed Abuja and landed in Lagos at 11.29 am, where it skidded off the runway.

Moshood told our correspondent that the minister would wait for the conclusion of the NSIB preliminary investigation, a report which by law is expected to be concluded within 30 days.

He said the minister did not have to react to the matter until the NSIB had concluded their investigation.

Moshood explained that Dana Air was suspended immediately because it was not the first time the carrier would be involved in such an incident.

He said, “It is in the news that NSIB has commenced an investigation into the incident. So, we await the report of the investigation. The minister doesn’t have to react to this one. You are a Nigerian and you will agree with me that the last time was not the first time Dana will be giving us such issues.

“And the last time, the minister didn’t suspend Dana. His role over these agencies is supervisory. And the document in circulation was only an internal memo. So, the NSIB has started its investigation and we don’t want to be preemptive.”

Reacting, a former commandant of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu, accused Keyamo of interfering in the duties of the NCAA.

He noted that the minister had no power to order the NCAA to enforce the suspension of Dana Air.

Ojukutu advised the minister to concentrate on ensuring the implementation of safety recommendations put together by experts, particularly the NSIB.

He said, “They should not be looking for excuses to be doing what they are doing. It is not unusual for aircraft to have excursions on the runway, particularly on a wet day. It happened to Air Peace in Port Harcourt twice within a week. So, what are we talking about?

“If the minister wants to get involved just like the two ministers that have come before him, he should ensure safety recommendations are implemented. I want to know how many of the safety recommendations by NISB have been implemented. Why hasn’t he implemented these recommendations? That would have been a better way for him to come in and not the way he is going about it now.

“He has not got the right to ask the NCAA to suspend Dana. It is an indictment of the NCAA.”