Bombs, Bellview and an Aviation Minister
My fellow Aviators and industry professionals, when will the government realize that we need professionals at the helm of affairs? The fact that one is made a minister does not automatically mean he/she is now an aviation expert, hence now understands the industry within a month or so. What am I ranting about? Read the article below and you just might feel me.
V1_RHOT8.
PS: Why is Bellview and the Minister adamant about this bomb theory? They should be careful what the think/wish for o!
How another Bellview plane escaped explosion narrowly —Aviation Minister
By Luka Binniyat
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
ABUJA—AVIATION Minister, Chief Gani Fani-Kayode alleged, yesterday, that a week before explosives meant to be loaded into an Abuja bound Bellview airlines flight were intercepted, security officials had discovered similar explosives that had been loaded into another flight 45 minutes before it was meant to explode.
The Minister also accused foreign Airlines operating in Nigeria of never paying Nigeria government any tax, saying that their total tax evasion was N65 billion ($500 million).
On the explosives on the Bellview flight, the Minister who still insists that the Dickson intercepted cargo, were a potent danger that could have blown up the plane, said, “A week before we intercepted these combustible, dangerous an illegal material, there was another incident whereby illegal, combustible material in the same way, were placed in a plane by a courier company in Abuja. The courier company people who were supposed to have checked the cargoes-maybe they checked and didn’t care, because their relatives were not on the plane - placed these materials on the plane (Bellview) here in Abuja.
''The MD (Managing Director) of Belleview is here to confirm. Nobody knew what was in it. Because once a courier company says it is all clear, then you don’t open it. That was the practice before now. That had been the practice! You just assume he was telling you the truth. They put these materials on the plane. And they got to Lagos.
''When they got to Lagos, it became clear to the Bellview people that there was something wrong - because the boxes had started expanding. So they opened them. In the cause of that, they found, illegal combustible materials. It is illegal in the sense that they were not supposed to be on that flight. Because the pressure mechanism has triggered off the mechanism within these material. And they were expanding. Give that flight another 45 minutes in the air. Or if that flight had been delayed or has been hovering over Lagos, that plane would have exploded. That plane would have come down.
“You don’t have to have a high density bomb in the plane to make it dangerous,” he said.
He did not however, name the courier company, and the brain(s) behind the explosive.
On whether the cargo intercepted from Dickson were bombs or mere crackers, he fumed and asserted that they were dangerous materials that could have brought the plane down, and challenged those who said they were mere crackers to prove it otherwise.
“On the nature of these combustibles”, he said, “you don’t need a bomb to bring down an aircraft. These are combustible materials, which under Aviation laws are not allowed to be placed on planes. These are even increasingly worse when the person that was placing the materials on the plane refuse to get in the place, but paid somebody N2000 to dump these things and leave.
“It makes it increasingly suspicious when the person that that owns that material, dropped then at the airport; asked somebody to put them on the plane, and decided to go by road to Abuja to receive them. These are very suspicious circumstances”, he said.
Chief Fani-Kayode said that the person arrested must face prosecution.
He said that law enforcement agencies are working on the issues.
It could be recalled that on the 20th November, 2006 a man who later gave his name as Micheal Dickson attempted to smuggled cargoes of items into a Bellview flight from Lagos to Abuja, confirmed to be explosives, was arrested and is still being held for investigation.
On the sharp practices by foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, the Minister accused them of refusing to get registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and such, evading the payment of company taxes that amounts to N62 billion ($500 million) ever since they stated flying in and out of the country.
“Let me use these opportunity to raise the issues of tax by foreign operators”, he said, “we discovered that quite a number of them have not even registered with the CAC in order to avoid having to pay tax,”, he said, “they are making so much money. They should pay us some tax.”, he went on, “if our planes fly into their countries without paying tax, they will simply hold the plane”, he said.
He said that the Federal government has written them to register and to pay their taxes.
“And if they refuse”, he said, “we will sanction them”.
“There is a backlog of $500million in form of taxes owed by these foreign airline operators”, he said
According to him Lufthansa makes 60% of its international profit from Nigerian route, and said it was only fair if the pay their due to the Nigerian People.
He then used the forum to congratulate Bellview airline, for the BASA, saying it was no small victory for the Nigerian Aviation sector.
Speaking earlier, the MD of Bellview airline, Mr. Kayode Odokoya told the Minister that it the successful signing of the agreement was largely attributed to the professional contribution of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry in the course of the meeting they had with the UK team.