As controversy continues to trail the Associated
Airlines plane involved in a crash last Thursday, some representatives of the
insurance giant, Lloyd of London, arrived in Nigeria on Wednesday amid
speculations on the exact insurance status of the aircraft.
The team, which came from Blake Group, a United
Kingdom crisis management firm, said it came to see things in the light of the
controversies.
It was gathered that the team was also in the country
to work with the airline and families that lost their relatives in the crash.
It was also learnt that the representatives visited
the office of the Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau, the crash site,
the NCAA office and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital to see the
survivors.
It was further learnt that the representatives of the
insurance giant also inspected the wreckage of the aircraft at the site of the
accident.
On the allegation that the embattled airline had no
insurance policy, it was said the airline took the policy directly from the
insurance giant, adding that this led to insinuation that the airline had no
insurance policy.
Meanwhile, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
has called on Nigerians not to politicize the crash, which has so far claimed
the lives of 15 persons.
FAAN, in a statement on Wednesday, said rather than
attack the government and its parastatals over the crash, eminent Nigerians,
especially politicians, should offer constructive support on how the issues
could be addressed.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN,
Mr. Yakubu Dati, who made the call, said that political leaders in other parts
of the world would not use such situation to discredit the government.
He said instead, such people identified with the
government and gave their support in ensuring positive changes.
He observed in the statement that since the
unfortunate crash of the 120 Embraer aircraft, opposition leaders had thrown
caution to the wind to exploit the sad incident for political gains.
He said, “Perhaps it is important to look at the most
recent case of tragedy in Kenya, East-Africa. Recently, when Kenya was faced
with one of the worst hostage crises the country had ever seen, the fervor
towards unity and the patriotism exhibited by Kenyans was one never seen
before.
“At periods of great trials, statesmen stand out; it
is high time we learnt from Kenya.
“The change we are making will take some time to
unsettle the many years of lopsided and inefficient policies and actions which
have brought us to where we are today.”
Dati remarked that it was no secret that the Nigerian
aviation sector was left to a cascading decline, until the present leadership
of the Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, embarked on a rescue operation two
years ago.
He said it was the determination of the present
government to ensure that the country did not record any more accident as the
policy laid on ground would soon start yielding results.
He said, “If you check world aviation statistics, in
the last three months, there have been 100 emergency landings all over the
world. South Africa alone has recorded 37 emergency landings with about 25
deaths in less than 12 months. But they involved unscheduled aircraft.” – Source: The Punch
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