The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has summoned heads of aviation regulatory agencies over safety concerns in the sector.
The minister said a thorough assessment of recent incidents will be carried out during the meeting.
Recently, the Lagos-Abuja flight of United Nigeria Airlines was diverted to Asaba, Delta State capital, due to poor weather conditions.
The flight, NUA 0504, took off on Sunday (yesterday) from the Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Terminal 2, and was headed for Abuja.
However, the pilot grounded the aircraft at the Asaba International Airport, and that caused some confusion among the passengers.
“Due to safety concerns in the aviation sector expressed by members of the public, I have summoned the heads of the regulatory agencies to my office later today to review the incidents that are the causes of these concerns and to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to forestall future occurrence and to apply sanctions, where necessary, regarding the past incidents,” Keyamo tweeted.
The summoning by the minister is coming less than 24 hours after Sunday PUNCH story of November 26 with the title, “Risky voyage: Passengers fret over increasing runway slips, crash-landings”.
The report mirrored the harrowing experiences of air passengers who have recently escaped episodes of runway excursions, crash landings, and other slips.
It also revealed the concerns of several aviation stakeholders and the challenges faced by the sector regarding infrastructure, management and navigational safety, amongst others.
In 14 days, the country witnessed three runway excursions in two international airports.
So far, there have been no fewer than 10 reported incidents this year.