THE African heads of government under the African Union (AU) have unanimously nominated a Nigerian representative at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Council, Mr Benard Aliyu for ICAO Council’s presidency.

The Federal Government has said it would make compliance to International Air Transportation Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) mandatory for all airlines in Nigeria.

Director of Infrastructure, African Union Commission, Mr Baba Musa, made known the position of AU on ICAO presidency in Abuja, on Tuesday, at the opening ceremony of the technical session of the ministerial ccnference on aviation safety in Africa.

He said Mr Aliyu would be presented as a consensus candidate from the African continent for the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Council’s general election in 2013.

About 33 African countries, 28 director generals and 12 international organisations were represented at the meeting of director generals of civil aviation authorities and other aviation safety experts.

President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to declare the ministerial session of the meeting open on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, has said that, Nigeria was considering mandatory IOSA compliance for its airlines.

IOSA programme is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. It uses internationally-recognised quality audit principles, and is designed so that audits are conducted in a standardised and consistent manner.

He, however, described the two aircraft accidents in quick succession, on June 2 and 3, 2012, as major setback to the reform agenda the government is pursuing in the aviation industry.

Demuren said, “Alas! 4 months from celebrating 6 uninterrupted years of zero fatalities in domestic scheduled flight operations, disaster struck on June 2nd, Allied Air, a Nigerian Registered Cargo aircraft overran the runway in heavy rain killing 10 commuters in a bus beyond the perimeter fence of the airport in Accra, Ghana.

“Less than 24 hours later, Dana Air’s flight 0992 crashed in a densely populated area of Lagos, killing 153 people on board and others on ground.

“These accidents occurred after we have successfully carried 50 million passengers, operated more than 1 million flights and grown our traffic by almost 40% in last 5½ years.

“This has been a devastating blow to us and indeed, a major setback to the reform agenda that we are pursuing,” he stated.

Minister of Aviation, Prince Stella Odua, said Nigeria in the last five years, has worked hard to reposition the nation’s aviation industry through comprehensive safety reform agenda, which focused on re-certification of the industry and resuscitation of aviation infrastructure.

She challenged the experts to come up with far-reaching recommendations that would not only enhance safety, but will make Africa, “the irresistible hub of global air transport business in the next few decades”.

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