THE Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno, says the state-owned airline Ibom Air conducts thorough checks on all of its planes before going on any journey.
The governor yesterday was reacting to an incident involving an airliner at Lagos’ Murtala Mohammed Airport.
Eno, who talked on Channels Television’s Politics Today, insisted that the airline takes safety seriously and follows all procedures before taking off.
Joe Abah, a former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, described in a post on his X account how a ground engineer saved passengers, including himself, on an Abuja-bound Ibom Air flight from a “potential disaster”.
According to Abah, the aircraft was already taxiing when the ground engineer gave a loud knock from outside, forcing the pilot to stop. He stated that the ground engineer informed the pilot that he could not go because his landing gear was damaged.
Commenting on the incident, the Akwa Ibom governor said, “For us in Ibom Air, we do all our checks before the aircraft departs and all of the approvals are always done. So, what you are talking about right now (the Lagos incident), I think it is as a result of the checks they did.
“I don’t have the full details but we will not (allow) the departure of any aircraft if we don’t follow all of the procedures. All the engineers and everyone sign off before the aircraft departs,” the governor said.
He went on to discuss how the state government is attempting to strengthen and expand the airline, which is still the only state-owned airline in the country.
According to the governor, Ibom Air has ordered ten new aircraft, the first of which has arrived and will shortly commence operations following completing all necessary checks by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
When asked how much money the airline makes for the state government each year, Eno stated that the state is not currently considering extracting money from the airline, but rather reinvesting all revenues to expand the airline.
“You have to know that Ibom Air keeps expanding. So, for the government, we are not setting up right now to begin to earn naira and kobo. When we make profit, we will put the profit back to keep expanding operations,” he said.