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The National Assembly joint committees on aviation have emphasized the need for adequate funding of the sector to enable it to cope with the increase in demands for air travel.

This is coming as high safety records so far achieved by the country in the last couple of years had brought the insurance premiums on wide-body aircraft from $800,000 a year to between $150,000 and $200,000.

The two chairmen of the committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Abiodun Olujimi and Nnolim Nnaji made the observation during an oversight working visit to the Accident Investigation Buteau (AIB) and the Nigerian Airspace Management (NAMA) to put enormous pressure on the existing aviation infrastructures which required that more investments should be made in the sector.

Both chairmen specifically pledged to look into the alleged exclusion of NAMA in the 2023 Federal Budget to see what could be done to redress it.

The Managing Director of NAMA, Mathew Pwajok had in his welcome remarks appreciated the committees of both Chambers of the National Assembly for their interest and concerns on matters affecting the aviation industry.

He acknowledged their swift passage of the six Executive Bills on the industry as a true reflection of their commitment to the progress of the air transport sector in the country.

At the AIB, the members of the joint committees were impressed with the progress so far made in the upgrade of facilities and manpower at the Bureau which had led to the reduction of accidents in the country to the barest minimum.

Nnaji stressed that members were impressed that for the past seven years now, the country had not recorded any fatalities apart from the helicopter accident which occurred at Opebi in Lagos in early 2021.

The Commissioner of AIB, Akin Olateru an aircraft engineer had told the legislators during his welcome remarks that the drastic reduction in aircraft accidents in the country had brought down the insurance premiums paid on operating airplanes in Nigeria

According to Olateru, the high safety records so far achieved by the country in the last couple of years had brought the insurance premiums on wide-body aircraft from $800,000 a year to between $150,000 and $200,000.

Chairman, House of Representative Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji

He also informed the two committees of the National Assembly that the Bureau has set the pace in air safety in Africa by establishing the first training institution for accident investigators on the continent.

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