FG gives Dana Airline 6 months to pay claims

 

THE Federal Government, on Thursday, gave Dana Air six months ultimatum to pay the claims of the families of the victims of the June 3, 2012 plane crash or face sanctions.

Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah, gave the ultimatum at the 2013 ministerial platform in Abuja.

She said the airline had paid up to 60 per cent of the claims to the families, but experienced a delay due to double claims that needed to be clarified.

“Dana has actually done very well in terms of compensating accident victims. The challenge Dana has is that of multiple claims. The multiple claims made it difficult to ascertain who should collect.

“And until they are able to do that, they will not pay multiple claims and we will continue verifying and re-verifying to ascertain who should be the next of kin to claim the money, but I know Dana has done up to 60 per cent.

“However, Dana is given till December. If they fail to pay completely, we would have to sanction them, they are aware of that, so I am sure they are accelerating the process.”

She said the sector had put up some strategies to ensure that air accidents became things of the past in Nigeria.

Oduah said the government was rendering additional assistance to families of victims of aircraft accident, adding that the approval of the Victim Family Insurance Package (VFAP) had been secured from the Nigerian Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

She said discussions were in progress between Nigeria Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA) and Zenith Bank on the implementation of VFAP, while family assistance centre would be established to take care of emergencies.