Yemisi Izuora
Insurance companies have offered explanations as to why they considered downward review of premiums for aircrafts operating in Nigeria.
Insurance premiums on wide body aircraft operating in Nigerian airspace have dipped from $800,000 a year to between $150,000 and $200,000.
The action is coming on the heels of high safety record in the airspace in the last few years where Nigeria has declared zero tolerance for air accidents.
The Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau, Engineer Akin Olateru, dropped the information to members of the National Assembly Committee on Aviation during their oversight visit to the Bureau and the airspace Agency.
He said the drastic reduction in aircraft accidents in the country has brought down the insurance premiums paid on operating aeroplanes in Nigeria.
This is just as the Committee emphasized the need for adequate funding of the sector to enable it to cope with the increase in demands for air travel.
The two chairmen of the committees of Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Abiodun Olujimi and Hon. Nnolim Nnaji made the observation during an oversight working visit to the Accident Investigation Bureau, (AIB) and the Nigerian Airspace Management.
They observed enormous pressure on the existing aviation infrastructure which required more investments be made in the sector.
Both chairmen specifically pledged to look into the alleged exclusion of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, (NAMA) in the 2023 Federal Budget to see what could be done to redress it.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Mathew Pwajok had in his welcome remarks appreciated the committees of both Chambers of the National Assembly for their interest and concerns on matters affecting the aviation industry.
He acknowledged their swift passage of the six Executive Bills on the industry as a true reflection of their commitment to the progress of the air transport sector in the country.
At the AIB, the members of the joint committees were impressed with the progress so far made in the upgrade of facilities and manpower at the bureau which has led to the reduction of accidents in the country to the barest minimum.
Nnaji, the House Committee Chairman stressed that members were impressed that for the past seven years now, the country had not recorded any fatalities apart from the helicopter accident which occurred at Opebi in Lagos early 2022.
Olateru however, informed the two committees of the National Assembly that the Bureau has set the pace in air safety in Africa by establishing the first training institution for accident investigators in the continent.
