As the 8th commission meeting of BAGAIA in Abuja draws to a close, the BAGAIA commissioner, Engr Charles Erhueh has harped on the need to extend membership to more countries.
Speaking during his closing remarks on Tuesday, Engr. Erhueh said there is need for the recommendations and resolutions at the meeting to be implemented to the later as that would improve BAGAIA’s cause as a regional investigation organization which he said will be the benchmark of their noble gathering.
” Despite our teething challenges, we have been able to keep our accident rate as low as possible and and in some BAGAIA states as low as zero,this is commendable and a result of fora like this”.
He thanked the Nigeria AIB , EU-ASA and others for their support towards the success of the meeting and called for more camaraderie among member states to uplift each other.
The minister of aviation Sen Hadi Sirika who was represented by the Nigerian AIB commissioner, Engr Akin Olateru expressed believe that the deliberations and resolutions from this meeting will further promote safer skies and ease of working together . He expressed delight at Nigeria playing host and called on member states to play their part towards the growth of the agency.
Engr. Olateru commended the BAGAIA commissioners for a successful meeting and urged BAGASOO to carry BAGAIA along in it’s meetings in the spirit of togetherness and knowledge sharing.
The EU-ASA expert Mr Mario Colavita applauded the lively and active nature of the deliberations. He said he had verified how useful and important the cooperation is. He further said the challenges of BAGAIA are mainly administrative and financial in nature and promised more support from his organization.
Mr Colavita said the support of the EU-ASA would going forward be structured in line with current realities.
On his part, the DG BAGASOO, Captain Tidiane Bah appreciated BAGAIA for the invitation and called for joint efforts to raise funds to sustain the organizations.He further assured BAGAIA of support to ensure that recommendations and resolutions from the meeting are implemented.According to him the “topical issues discussed at the meeting are an indication of the extensive work being done towards the establishment of the agency which is highly commendable “.
The ICAO WACAF regional director represented by his deputy, Engr Nika Manzi on his part promised ICAO’s support and called on BAGAIA and BAGASOO to support member states especially those soon to undergo ICAO audit to scle through. He further urged the members to fulfill their responsibility to ensure the success of state safety programs SSPs.
The meeting dovetailed into a dinner with all participants in attendance.
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