For sanity to prevail in the aviation industry, the Federal Government must be ready to force all local airlines operating in the country to consolidate into five formidable airlines that can favourably compete with other airlines in the world as well as enhance safety.

President of the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative ,NASI, Captain Dung Pam ,last week made the call following the ill-fated Dana Air plane crash that killed all 153 passengers on board at Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos.

Captain Pam further stressed that for Nigerian aviation industry to be safe and buoyant, the Federal Government has a duty to regulate all the airlines economically even as they are force to merge together stressing that anyone that is not ready to merge should be left to die a natural death.

He said”We need to do something to change what is happening in the aviation industry, one thing is still missing and that is accountability, so the Federal Government should compel these airlines not only to merge , but also to publish their financial account, their plans and expenditure on their website for people to see because there is no transparency in the system at the moment and that is really affecting safety.

So the Federal Government should force the airlines to consolidate and give them good policies to enable them operate well because this is one of the major solutions to the numerous problems that we are facing in the aviation industry”.

Asked what is the way forward for the aviation industry at the moment,  Captain Pam said”The Federal Government should get the stakeholders together to form an advisory council that is strictly made up of professionals who have enormous experience in the aviation industry to make plans and monitor it in a transparent manner as this will take us a long way if fully implemented”

Captain Pam however pointed out that NCAA was also responsible for the rot in the aviation industry as the agency has relaxed in enforcing strict sanction against erring airlines which has given room for airline operators to cut corners. According to him, there is a problem with NCAA because if the agency cannot effectively monitor the airlines not only in the area of safety but particularly in the area of controlling them financially then that will impede  the safety of the Nigerian flying public.