Experts Query NCAA Director’s Role In Lagos Plane Crash

Experts in the nation’s aviation industry have expressed concerns over the role of the director Airworthiness and Standard of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Engr. Gbolahan Abatan, in the company that own Jabiru J430, a light single airplane with Nationality and Registration Marks 5N-CCQ operated by Air First Hospitality & Tours, that crashed on the ever-busy Oba Akran road, Ikeja, on Tuesday.

LEADERSHIP reports that Engr. Abatan was one of the 33 directors appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari into agencies under the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace six days before the end of his tenure in May 2023.

Abatan, according to online news medium, SaharaReporters, is, however, still the president and chief executive officer of Air First Nigeria Limited (AFNL), the company that operated the light single-engine aircraft, turbo 5N-CCQ which crashed in Lagos.

Also, on the NCAA’s website (https://ncaa.gov.ng/about/management-team/), Abatan is also confirmed as one of its directors.

Moreover, experts queried conflict of interest between NCAA and Air First Hospitality & Tours, saying the NCAA as an autonomous agency that regulates the aviation sector shouldn’t have a member of its management team as the head of an aviation company it regulates.

They also queried why a test flight would be approved by the NCAA over a densely populated city like Lagos when airports in a lowly populated area abounds in the country.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP, a member of the Aviation Round Table Initiative (ARTI), Olumide Ohunayo, said if the director of

Airworthiness and Standard hasn’t resign then there will definitely be clash of interest.

He said, if it’s true that he didn’t step down then definitely there will be conflict of interest. If he stepped down, no conflict of interest but if not then there is crisis because they are all aviators belonging to one organisation or the other. If truly he’s hasn’t step down then he has breached the law but if he has then he hasn’t breached any law.”

Speaking on the plane flying into a densely populated area, Ohunayo, who is the head research & corporate travel at zenith travel & consul, stated that it’s not advisable for a test flight to fly into such area.

According to him, until NSIB comes out with report, no one knows what could make the airline fly through a densely populated area like Lagos.

In his reaction, the former commandant Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), said a test flight should have been carried out at the Ilorin Airport, Zaria or any other airports convenient for it instead of a densely populated area like Lagos.

He, however, queried if the NCAA gives approval for such flight operations to take place at the Murtala Muhammed international Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

When contacted, Engr. Abatan said he resigned as President and chief executive officer of AirFirst Nigeria Limited (AFNL), the parent company of Airfirst hospitality  and Tour Ltd.

In a text message to LEADERSHIP, he said there was no clash of interest as he resigned from the company before taking up the NCAA’s appointment.

“I resigned from all the companies I was a Director in soon as I got this appointment. My lawyers started work on it to sort it out with CAC, it’s a process. But my resignations were filed at the NCAA and Ministry of Aviation immediately I accepted the appointment.”

Meanwhile, Ojikutu a ranking member of the Aviation Round Table Initiative (ARTI), queried the conflicting number of casualties reported.

“Report on the number of casualties has been varying from two to four and from four to two but which nobody can tell. The aircraft might be

carrying two but the other two might be innocent ones on the road and the number could have been more: what sort of people are we really?”

“NISB may be carrying out the cause or causes of the accident but the NCAA must find out why the test of the new aircraft has to be on the urban area like Lagos if it was ever been approved by the NCAA and if not was the aircraft certified by the NCAA before the test?”

“Are there no designated area for such Test Flight than in Lagos? Has the NCAA approved such flight outside the Manufacturing or Assembling Area? These questions are necessary to be answered to stop such further testing and should not wait for the NISB report.

“The questions we should be asking ourselves before other occurrences are test flights allowed in or approved for busy international

airports like MMA, Abuja? If they are, what are the designated areas for the test flights, departure and arrival routes?

However, all effort to contact, Engr Abatan, on whether he resigned his position from his personal company before taking up directorship position in the NCAA and why test flight would flew over a densely populated area such as Lagos proved abortive as several calls and messages sent to him were not answered nor returned.