Aircraft  maintenance facility

By Chinedu Eze

The Managing Director, AirGold Aviation, Ifeanyi Okocha, has said that Nigeria should advance its aviation development by having a national carrier and maintenance facility, stating that the Dana Air flight which crashed on June 3 in Lagos was a wakeup call for the country.

Okocha added that the issue of air crashes would have been a thing of the past if Nigeria had attained the second level aviation development.

Second level aviation development, he explained involved a national carrier and Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul (mro) facilities for the country.

Okocha lamented that Nigeria was still battling with first level aviation since independence when it ought to have developed to the second level for total safety and security.

“The aeronautical foundation of a country is known as basic or first level aviation; before independence of any country, there must be a means of movement; through the waterways if the country is surrounded by big water or through one or two airstrips or possibly an airport.

“After two or three years depending on the country’s resources, it may decide to establish a national carrier, which will bring about the need to develop a manpower training centre to meet the new industry requirements. Establishing school of aviation and creating more airports will enable the new national airline to fly to every nook and cranny of the country”, he added.
Okocha noted that by late 1960s, Nigeria had all the required aeronautic foundations in place, but however, lost its national flag carrier shortly through “carelessness and civil service mentality.”

He said that most of the previous aviation ministers in the country including the incumbent, Princess Stella Odua, spend fortunes in the first level of aviation development without any tangible result to show for it.
Okocha observed that countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and some others that got their independence after Nigeria had already attained second level aviation while Nigeria was yet to develop to the next stage.