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The Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority, on Thursday, announced the enforcement of $100,000
(N15m) insurance compensation to families of victims involved in air
crashes as against the $10,000 paid them currently by domestic airlines
operating in the country.

Describing the
practice by the airlines as unacceptable, the authority said that it
has put in place proper procedure to ensure strict compliance with the
provisions of the Civil Aviation Act. “This seminar has been organised
to sensitise the industry on the importance of having adequate and
valid insurance cover by all airlines, service providers and allied
services for the benefit of all end users and third parties,” said
Harold Demuren, the Director General of the agency, during a
‘Sensitisation Seminar on Aviation Insurance for Stakeholders’, held at
the authority’s headquarters annex, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on
Thursday.

Lesson from the past

Mr Demuren said
that the agency was taking a decisive stand on the matter following the
protracted battles that families of air crash victims had to go through
during the spate of air accidents in the past. He said that the
compensation of the victims’ relatives became a serious issue as some
of the airlines involved could not settle the families of the victims
on time with the mandatory liability limit of $100,000 as compensation
stipulated in the Civil Aviation Act, 2006 which domesticated the
Montreal Convention.

According to him,
the Montreal Convention, 1999 (Convention for the Unification of
Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air) which specifies a
liability limit of $100,000, supersedes the Warsaw Convention of 1929
that stipulates a compensation of $10,000. “However, it has been
observed that many airlines still refer to the Warsaw Convention in
their tickets in spite of several letters from the NCAA asking the
domestic airlines to desist from this,” he said.

The regulatory
agency said that last year it inaugurated the NCAA/National Insurance
Commission Aviation Insurance Committee responsible for recommending
insurance liability benchmarks for ground handling, airports, air
navigation and other allied providers in the aviation industry. “The
committee also verifies and validates insurance policy documents and
certificates, as well as ensuring regular payment of insurance as at
when due,” said Mr Demuren. “An air travel insurance scheme, based on a
no-fault insurance is being put in place to provide supplementary
relief to families of victims of air accidents. This will be an
addition to the airline insurance cover for passengers and the premium
will be a negligible amount to be added to air fares.”

Insurance challenges

Femi Daniel, the
Commissioner for Insurance, outlined the challenges facing the
satisfactory compensation of victims involved in an air accident in
Nigeria to include: “inadequate insurance for ground handling
equipment, insufficient third party insurance, absence of comprehensive
list of aircraft operated by commercial and non-commercial operators,
dearth of personnel with sufficient expertise for ensuring compliance,
and general lack of public awareness for insurance.”