Ebun Francis || The federal government on Wednesday ordered a full audit of the operations of Dana Air in the country.
The decision of the federal government is coming on the heels of two recent close calls the airline had in Abuja and Port Harcourt.
The first was On February 8, when one of the emergency doors of an aircraft belonging to the airline fell off at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja while the second occurred when another Dana flight overshot the runway of the Port Harcourt International Airport.
The decision to audit the airline was taken at the end of the federal executive council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement at the end of the meeting read, “A lot of quality time was spent discussing air safety. The government of Nigeria is very much concerned about safety and the life of Nigerians, this is following the recent air incidents minor as they were because they are no fatalities, the government did feel concern and the minister did the report to the council on steps that were taken following the last incident in Port Harcourt, Dana aircraft overshooting the runaway,” Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, told reporters after the six-hour meeting.
“As soon as that happened, a few seconds, a rescue team was there on the ground and few moments thereafter every passenger on board was evacuated, there was no harm to persons and this is something that should be celebrated.
“Within 24 hours an official investigation had commenced because investigators arrived in Port Harcourt and began work. One week after that a preliminary report was prepared and it was on this that the council was briefed.
“Consequently as announced by the aviation authorities, the engineer and Pilot of that particular aircraft got their licences both suspended and beyond that the government has ordered a complete audit of Dana airlines in terms of personnel, operations, technical capacity.”