Itse Sagay, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says the federal government should not use Boeing Max planes for Nigeria’s official carrier — Nigeria Air — because of its history of deadly crashes.
Speaking with TheCable on Monday, Sagay, former chairman of
the presidential advisory committee against corruption (PACAC), said Hadi
Sirika, the immediate past aviation minister, made arrangements with Ethiopian
Airlines to use Boeing 737 Max planes for the Air Nigeria project.
He said he spoke with Keyamo who also confirmed that Sirika
entered into an agreement with Ethiopian Airlines to use Boeing 737 Max
aircraft, which has been grounded in many countries, for Nigeria Air.
“I want to express my views on the issue of Air Nigeria
which was started by the immediate past aviation minister, Hadi Sirika. The
matter is now hanging on the desk of Festus Keyamo, the current aviation
minister”.
“From what I read on the internet, Sirika arranged with
Ethiopian Airlines that the planes that will service Air Nigeria Boeing 737 Max
which has been having crashes. He made plans with them to deploy the aircraft
which Ethiopian Airlines had plenty of to Nigeria to be used for Air Nigeria”.
“I expressed my alarm about it to Festus Keyamo and he
confirmed it.
“I want to use this opportunity to express my views to the
general public that the Ministry of Aviation should not be allowed to import
the Boeing 737 Max to this country because there is no evidence that anything
has been done to rectify the problems.
“Presently, if you check Boeing, hardly any day goes by
without any incidents with Boeing 737.
“It was grounded worldwide between 2019 and 2020 after
deadly crashes. I remember the Ethiopian Airlines and the one in Alaska. There
are others in the US itself that are experiencing problems too.
“We should not allow any airline to be established in the
name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to come with deadly airplanes that will
further endanger the lives of Nigerians who are suffering presently from armed
robbery, kidnapping and hardship occasioned by high prices.
“We can’t add the danger of flying an aircraft that you are
not sure of arriving at your destination to it.
“I am also calling on
the aviation minister, Festus Keyamo to go and look at other reliable aircraft,
maybe like Airbus that has a consistent history of safety and comfort.
“We can’t risk using Boeing whose records keep getting worse
and worse and they are always going to the drawing board to go and correct
things. They are trying to produce aircraft cheaply without going through the
necessary procedures.”
Keyamo had announced the suspension of the Nigeria Air
project on August 2023.
He said the project was suspended because Nigerians, and
government agencies “raised red flags” about it.
The national carrier is a major project under the aviation
roadmap implemented by the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.
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