STATEMENT BY THE FAMILY OF LATE CAPTAIN J.E.O AGBEYEGBE ON THE 10th YEAR REMEMBRANCE ANNIVERSARY..

Monday, October 13, 2014

STATEMENT BY THE FAMILY OF LATE CAPTAIN J.E.O AGBEYEGBE ON THE 10th YEAR REMEMBRANCE ANNIVERSARY..

SAFETY FIRST: A WAY OF LIFE

Exactly ten years ago, on a regular Tuesday morning on the 12th day of October2004. Captain JERRY EYITUOYO OMAKPOME AGBEYEGBE was felled by the bullets of assassins.

Captain JERRY EYITUOYO OMAKPOME AGBEYEGBE

Today we look back and imagine all what could have been, were our husband,brother and father still with us today.​We are however much grateful to God for his mercies & consoled by our belief that he is resting at the bosom of the Almighty.

Or maybe not, as we also imagine that Jerry, the aviation activist popularly calledMr. Safety, would be standing up in the heavens, still keeping a watch over the Nigerian skies, with his charismatic broad smile on his face and saying “As regulatory officials, airline operators, air traffic controller, pilots and engineers, we must all strive to conduct our operations with the highest consideration for safety, even at great economic risk. For all of us, safety must not just be spoken words and broken promises, but should be in our every deed and action, it must be a way of life, this is the only way we can restore public confidence and guaranty the survival of the aviation industry” [Capt. J.E.O Agbeyegbe - Aviation & Allied Business – Feb 26 1998].

Captain Agbeyegbe, a former President of the National association of Airline Pilot and engineers (NAAPE) was Nigeria’s foremost airspace system inspection specialist, with over 25 years experience in the aviation industry, spanning corporate and charter, training school, commuter airline, regulatory authority and special application-aerial inspections operations.

As a former chief pilot in charge of airspace system inspection in the defunctFederal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA), Agbeyegbe under a joint United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), “Rehabilitation of Nigerian Airspace Project” was responsible for restoring some measure of confidence in the nation’s airspace by the international aviation community in the early 90’s. He was a member of a three-manICAO/UNDP committee, which drafted an Airspace Systems Inspection Procedure manual for the country and was equally actively involved as a calibration pilot/instructor, in the training and manpower development programmes for flight inspection/Calibration personnel.

A qualified instrument Enroute and Approach Procedures Development specialist, the first Nigerian calibration pilot to be so privileged, Captain Agbeyegbe also pioneered the first ever airspace safety audit in the country, widely acclaimed by the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association (IFALPA), during his tenure as the president of the pilots and engineers association. NAAPE also rededicated itself to upholding professional integrity and safe aircraft operations became the thrust of his tenure.

Born of Iteskiri\Urhobo descent of Delta State. He started his flying career in 1974 as a student pilot at the Lagos flying club (LFC) where he eventually got his private pilot license before proceeding to Miami, Florida, United States of America for his professional pilots training programme.

A graduate of Burnside Ott Aviation Training center, Miami, Florida, he also had considerable experience as a flight instructor and a flight operations safety inspector, monitoring airline operations and ensuring compliance with safety regulations, international standards and recommended practices (SARPs). Because of his dedication to duty, as an operations safety inspector, Agbeyegbe was assigned responsibility over highly sensitive, complex and controversial operations which included the Presidential Fleet, Nigeria Airways and Russian aircraftoperations. He was also privileged to return to his Alma Mata as a Flight Instructor, one of the few Non-Americans so honored. At the Lagos Flying club where he was also a Chief Flying Instructor, he had the privilege of flagging off the flying careers of Captains Chris Najoma, Johnson Akinbo, Bode Shittu, Anslem Okojie and Col. Smalia Yombe rtd. among others.

Captain Agbeyegbe was Director of Operation at Millennium Air Aerial patrol, a private sector initiative towards addressing the threats of pipeline vandalisation, environmental pollution and airspace systems unreliability.​It is on record that Capt. Agbeyegbe said he would like to see the establishment of a quality control department at NAMA to be called the “Airspace Systems Standards” To cater for the crucial role of auditing the services provided by the agency. NAMA must develop the capability to determine and guaranty the quality of services being provided in the airspace, be they Communication, Navigation or Surveillance. The agency’s commitment to safety demands no less. This must be top priority at NAMA.

The practice of relying on ASCENA, the Dakar based French calibration company to calibrate our navaids should not be entertained beyond serving as a stop-gap measure, it is neither cost effective, nor a pragmatic response to the challenges of meeting with ICAO navigational aids flight checking periodicity requirements.Given the number of facilities it has responsibility over, the ultimate goal of the agency should be to develop an in-house flight checking capability.

Jerry was the founder and former Chairman of Concerned aviation Professionals (CAP), a non-governmental, non-profit group, and the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) an NGO dedicated to the ideals of promoting Aviation safety in concert with other NGOs, professional bodies and Civil liberty organizations such as national Association of Airline Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), the aviation roundtable (ART), Air Transport Service Senior Staff association (ATSSSAN) and the National Union of Air Transport Employee (NUATE) to mention a few.

Without any formal education in Journalism, but with a burning desire to enlighten the public about the Aviation industry, Jerry carved a niche for himself in aviation journalism. ​As a pioneer Aviation correspondent with the Business Concord, he anchored the column “Skyliner Files” and blazed a trail which took him through virtually most media houses in the country as a contributor.​He would be later conferred with an honorary doctorate of philosophy in communication arts and public administration by the institute of journalism, management and continuing education, an affiliate of the California Christian University, U.S.A.

Captain Agbeyegbe a recipient of Numerous Awards, like a superhuman racing against time to save the skies, had his eventful life cut short at the age of 49 years by yet to be apprehended assailants. We say a big thank you to all those who offered us a shoulder of comfort over the last ten years, and pray for us all thatSAFETY FIRST becomes A WAY OF LIFE.

SAFETY FIRST: A WAY OF LIFE

Exactly ten years ago, on a regular Tuesday morning on the 12th day of October2004. Captain JERRY EYITUOYO OMAKPOME AGBEYEGBE was felled by the bullets of assassins.

Today we look back and imagine all what could have been, were our husband,brother and father still with us today.​We are however much grateful to God for his mercies & consoled by our belief that he is resting at the bosom of the Almighty.

Or maybe not, as we also imagine that Jerry, the aviation activist popularly calledMr. Safety, would be standing up in the heavens, still keeping a watch over the Nigerian skies, with his charismatic broad smile on his face and saying “As regulatory officials, airline operators, air traffic controller, pilots and engineers, we must all strive to conduct our operations with the highest consideration for safety, even at great economic risk. For all of us, safety must not just be spoken words and broken promises, but should be in our every deed and action, it must be a way of life, this is the only way we can restore public confidence and guaranty the survival of the aviation industry” [Capt. J.E.O Agbeyegbe - Aviation & Allied Business – Feb 26 1998].

Captain Agbeyegbe, a former President of the National association of Airline Pilot and engineers (NAAPE) was Nigeria’s foremost airspace system inspection specialist, with over 25 years experience in the aviation industry, spanning corporate and charter, training school, commuter airline, regulatory authority and special application-aerial inspections operations.

As a former chief pilot in charge of airspace system inspection in the defunctFederal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA), Agbeyegbe under a joint United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), “Rehabilitation of Nigerian Airspace Project” was responsible for restoring some measure of confidence in the nation’s airspace by the international aviation community in the early 90’s. He was a member of a three-manICAO/UNDP committee, which drafted an Airspace Systems Inspection Procedure manual for the country and was equally actively involved as a calibration pilot/instructor, in the training and manpower development programmes for flight inspection/Calibration personnel.

A qualified instrument Enroute and Approach Procedures Development specialist, the first Nigerian calibration pilot to be so privileged, Captain Agbeyegbe also pioneered the first ever airspace safety audit in the country, widely acclaimed by the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association (IFALPA), during his tenure as the president of the pilots and engineers association. NAAPE also rededicated itself to upholding professional integrity and safe aircraft operations became the thrust of his tenure.

Born of Iteskiri\Urhobo descent of Delta State. He started his flying career in 1974 as a student pilot at the Lagos flying club (LFC) where he eventually got his private pilot license before proceeding to Miami, Florida, United States of America for his professional pilots training programme.

A graduate of Burnside Ott Aviation Training center, Miami, Florida, he also had considerable experience as a flight instructor and a flight operations safety inspector, monitoring airline operations and ensuring compliance with safety regulations, international standards and recommended practices (SARPs). Because of his dedication to duty, as an operations safety inspector, Agbeyegbe was assigned responsibility over highly sensitive, complex and controversial operations which included the Presidential Fleet, Nigeria Airways and Russian aircraftoperations. He was also privileged to return to his Alma Mata as a Flight Instructor, one of the few Non-Americans so honored. At the Lagos Flying club where he was also a Chief Flying Instructor, he had the privilege of flagging off the flying careers of Captains Chris Najoma, Johnson Akinbo, Bode Shittu, Anslem Okojie and Col. Smalia Yombe rtd. among others.

Captain Agbeyegbe was Director of Operation at Millennium Air Aerial patrol, a private sector initiative towards addressing the threats of pipeline vandalisation, environmental pollution and airspace systems unreliability.​It is on record that Capt. Agbeyegbe said he would like to see the establishment of a quality control department at NAMA to be called the “Airspace Systems Standards” To cater for the crucial role of auditing the services provided by the agency. NAMA must develop the capability to determine and guaranty the quality of services being provided in the airspace, be they Communication, Navigation or Surveillance. The agency’s commitment to safety demands no less. This must be top priority at NAMA.

The practice of relying on ASCENA, the Dakar based French calibration company to calibrate our navaids should not be entertained beyond serving as a stop-gap measure, it is neither cost effective, nor a pragmatic response to the challenges of meeting with ICAO navigational aids flight checking periodicity requirements.Given the number of facilities it has responsibility over, the ultimate goal of the agency should be to develop an in-house flight checking capability.

Jerry was the founder and former Chairman of Concerned aviation Professionals (CAP), a non-governmental, non-profit group, and the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) an NGO dedicated to the ideals of promoting Aviation safety in concert with other NGOs, professional bodies and Civil liberty organizations such as national Association of Airline Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), the aviation roundtable (ART), Air Transport Service Senior Staff association (ATSSSAN) and the National Union of Air Transport Employee (NUATE) to mention a few.

Without any formal education in Journalism, but with a burning desire to enlighten the public about the Aviation industry, Jerry carved a niche for himself in aviation journalism. ​As a pioneer Aviation correspondent with the Business Concord, he anchored the column “Skyliner Files” and blazed a trail which took him through virtually most media houses in the country as a contributor.​He would be later conferred with an honorary doctorate of philosophy in communication arts and public administration by the institute of journalism, management and continuing education, an affiliate of the California Christian University, U.S.A.

Captain Agbeyegbe a recipient of Numerous Awards, like a superhuman racing against time to save the skies, had his eventful life cut short at the age of 49 years by yet to be apprehended assailants. We say a big thank you to all those who offered us a shoulder of comfort over the last ten years, and pray for us all thatSAFETY FIRST becomes A WAY OF LIFE.