The Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, spoke on Tuesday that the aviation sector was in a scene of complete disorder when she assumed office in July 2011.
She said this in Abuja when she made an appearance before the Senate Committee on Aviation to detail the circumstances surrounding the Associated Airlines crash on 3 October.
Ms Oduah who previously failed to
honor three invitations by the committee without any cogent reasons.
She said prior to her assumption of office, the aviation sector was in shambles as all airports were laden with obsolete and unserviceable safety and security facilities.
"I met decayed infrastructures... at all airport terminals.
"There were many forsaken control towers all over the nation. We had 154 deserted control projects all over and several runways without runway lighting.
"There were massive leakages of agencies' revenues due to manipulation of manual revenue collection process.
"The industry was in retrogression, lagging behind other parts of the world.
"Economically, it was a liability to government and thus a very poor image for the country," she said.
The minister mounted the blame of Associated Airline crash on its technical crew.
She also showed a video clip of the conversations between the two pilots showing that both engines of the aircraft were faulty and should not have taken off.
"As a minister of aviation, the fact that we got a preliminary report in our laboratory without waiting for the final report showed that we have put in place preventive measures."
The Senate Deputy leader Senator Abdul Ningi, who represented the Senate President David Mark, rejected the explanation by the minister.
Ningi directed Oduah to re-submit a detailed presentation on the incident because her explanations failed to address the circumstances surrounding the accident.
Ningi observed that the minister did not provide details about the processes that led to the take-off of the aircraft on the fateful day, especially why everyone failed to alert the regulatory agencies.
"What we expect you Honorable minister to come and tell us here is whether your investigation had revealed those who approved the aircraft for the flight operation.
"We also expect you to tell us when the aircraft was last serviced and who supervised the maintenance and certified it okay.
"Your explanation was just limited to the immediate cause of the crash; we want you to come back and give us those critical information," Ningi said.
The committee adjourned the meeting to 11 December.
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