The controversy surrounding the July 2025 runway overrun incident involving an Air Peace aircraft at Port Harcourt International Airport reached a resolution today, as the Senate cleared the airline of negligence and issued a strong rebuke to the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) over its preliminary report.
Following a high-profile investigative hearing by the Senate Committee on Aviation, the committee’s final review concluded that the allegations of drug and alcohol use by the Air Peace crew were based on “inconsistent and uncoordinated” findings by the NSIB.
The Committee Chairman, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, speaking after the session, expressed deep concern that the NSIB’s handling of the toxicology results—which initially alleged multiple crew members had tested positive before narrowing the claim—could severely undermine international confidence in Nigeria’s air safety rating.
Senator Abdulfatai Buhari: “You can see that, unfortunately, most of those allegations are not true. The report was disjointed and not coordinated. You don’t accuse people wrongly, especially in aviation, where ICAO and other international laboratories are monitoring us closely.”
The Senate’s review confirmed that the Air Peace aircraft sustained no damage during the runway excursion, which had been the basis for the investigation.
The Committee commended Air Peace and other domestic airlines for maintaining robust internal safety checks and random drug testing programs. Senator Buhari emphasized the need to “encourage rather than destroy” indigenous carriers, particularly in light of the airline’s safety record and the fact that the co-pilot involved in the incident, who advised the captain to execute a go-around, had already been cleared by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The Senate’s decision calls for urgent action to address the inconsistencies within the NSIB’s reporting framework to ensure that future accident investigations are conducted with the highest level of professionalism and accuracy.
