Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, has disclosed that the private aircraft with registration number N989BC which landed on a road in the Ogwashi-Uku area of Delta State did not suffer any mechanical failure.
According to him, the aircraft had been cleared to land at Asaba Airport but failed to touch down on the designated runway after the pilots mistakenly identified a nearby construction road as the runway.
He said the control tower lost visual contact with the aircraft shortly after issuing landing clearance and only later discovered that it had landed on the road, where passengers were dropped off.
Speaking during a TV interview, Keyamo said: “The tower in Asaba cleared them to land. After about two minutes, the tower called and said: ‘where is your location? I can’t see you again. I can’t see you on the tarmac.’ As it is known, the tower is always elevated, thus one can see the whole of the runway and the apron.
“But they (the pilots) said they had landed, so the tower asked: ‘landed where?’ I can see the whole of the runway and aprons, but you are not there. So, they said they landed on a roadway that they saw. It happened that it was a construction site very close to the airport. They saw a beautiful road there that looked like a runway and landed there.
“Before they (relevant agency) could go there and ask questions, they (pilots) took off to Lagos after dropping their passengers. There was no mechanical failure, and that was why they could take off again. However, those facts are before the Department of State Service, DSS. It has gone beyond aviation, it is now a security concern. Security agencies are looking into that, and there are reports they will first send to Mr President because it is a matter of national security.”
Keyamo added that investigations by security agencies are ongoing because the incident has now moved beyond aviation matters and into the realm of national security.
On concerns raised by the International Air Transport Association, IATA, that Nigeria remains an expensive environment for airlines due to taxes, levies and charges, the minister said President Bola Tinubu is set to establish a committee involving aviation, finance and tax authorities, alongside the Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON, to address the issue.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
