The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno, says the state-owned airline Ibom Air conducts proper checks on all its aircraft to ensure they are in good conditions before embarking on any trip.
The governor was reacting to an incident involving an aircraft which belongs to the airline at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos on Thursday.
Eno, who spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, maintained that the airline takes safety seriously and ensure all procedures are followed before flying out.
In a post on his X account, a former Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Joe Abah, had narrated how a ground engineer saved travellers including himself on an Abuja-bound Ibom Air flight from a “potential disaster”.
According to Abah, the aircraft was already taxiing before a loud knock from outside by the ground engineer forced the pilot to halt the aircraft. He said the ground engineer told the pilot that he can’t leave because his landing gear was bad.
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 further to share how the state government is working to improve and expand the airline which remains the only state-owned airline in the country.
According to the governor, the Ibom Air has ordered 10 new aircraft and the first of that order has arrived and will soon resume operation after passing all the checks by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Asked how much the airline generates for the state government yearly, Eno said the state is not yet looking at drawing money from the airline but rather reinvesting all profits 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.