Associated crash: UK insurance team visits Nigeria

Some representatives of the insurance
giant, Lloyd of London, arrived in Nigeria
on Wednesday to work with
stakeholders in the aviation sector
following last Thursday’s plane crash
involving an Associated Airlines’ aircraft.
The team, which came from Blake
Group, a United Kingdom crisis
management firm, said it came to see
things in view of the controversy
surrounding the insurance policy on the
aircraft.
A source close to the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority said the team was
also in the country to work with the
airline and families that lost their
relatives in the crash.
The source, who chose not to be named,
said the representatives visited the
office of the Accident Investigation and
Prevention Bureau, the crash site, the
NCAA office and the Lagos State
University Teaching Hospital to see the
survivors.
The source added that the
representatives of the insurance giant
also inspected the wreckage of the
aircraft at the site of the accident.
On the allegation that the embattled
airline had no insurance policy, the
source said the airline took the policy
directly from the insurance giant, adding
that this led to insinuation that the
airline had no insurance policy.
Meanwhile, the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria has called on
Nigerians not to politicise the crash,
which has so far claimed the lives of 15
persons.
FAAN, in a statement on Wednesday,
said rather than attack the government
and its parastatals over the crash,
eminent Nigerians, especially politicians,
should offer constructive support on
how the issues could be addressed.
The General Manager, Corporate
Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu
Dati, who made the call, said that
political leaders in other parts of the
world would not use such situation to
discredit the government.
He said instead, such people identified
with the government and gave their
support in ensuring positive changes.
He observed in the statement that since
the unfortunate crash of the 120
Embraer aircraft, opposition leaders had
thrown caution to the wind to exploit
the sad incident for political gains.
He said, “Perhaps it is important to look
at the most recent case of tragedy in
Kenya, East-Africa. Recently, when
Kenya was faced with one of the worst
hostage crises the country had ever
seen, the fervour towards unity and the
patriotism exhibited by Kenyans was
one never seen before.
“At periods of great trials, statesmen
stand out; it is high time we learnt from
Kenya.
“The change we are making will take
some time to unsettle the many years
of lopsided and inefficient policies and
actions which have brought us to where
we are today.”
Dati remarked that it was no secret that
the Nigerian aviation sector was left to a
cascading decline, until the present
leadership of the Aviation Minister,
Stella Oduah, embarked on a rescue
operation two years ago.
He said it was the determination of the
present government to ensure that the
country did not record any more
accident as the policy laid on ground
would soon start yielding results.
He said, “If you check world aviation
statistics, in the last three months,
there have been 100 emergency
landings all over the world. South Africa
alone has recorded 37 emergency
landings with about 25 deaths in less
than 12 months. But they involved
unscheduled aircraft.”