WHY NAF PLANES KEEP FALLING FROM THE SKY — EX-DSS DIRECTOR

A former Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, has revealed why Nigerian military planes keep crashing, pointing to a combination of maintenance failures, ageing fleets and systemic neglect in the country’s military aviation sector.

The ex-DSS director military planes crash diagnosis comes weeks after the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) ATR-42 crash in Igbokoda, Ondo State, which killed all 25 people on board, five crew members and 20 passengers.

THE REVELATION

According to Ejiofor, a former DSS director who has remained a prominent voice on national security matters, several factors are responsible for the recurring crashes.

His assessment places the problem not in the realm of sabotage or conspiracy, but in the more mundane and more damning failure of logistics and upkeep.

THE CORE PROBLEM: MAINTENANCE

The central issue, according to Ejiofor, is maintenance. Military aircraft operate under demanding conditions: long hours, harsh environments, rapid deployment cycles and limited windows for servicing. Keeping such fleets airworthy requires constant investment in spare parts, trained engineers, diagnostic equipment and scheduled overhauls.

In Nigeria, those requirements have repeatedly gone unmet. Aircraft are kept in service beyond their optimal lifecycles because replacements are expensive and procurement is slow.

Spare parts are sourced irregularly, sometimes through third parties of uncertain reliability.

Engineers are trained, then lost to better-paying opportunities abroad or in the private sector. The result is a fleet that is technically operational but structurally fragile.

THE AGEING FLEET

Nigeria’s military aviation fleet includes platforms that have been in service for decades. The ATR-42 that crashed in Ondo State, marked NAF 931, was reported to have undergone prolonged maintenance abroad, reportedly in Germany, where it remained for nearly three years before returning to Nigeria in December 2024.

That kind of extended grounding is both a symptom and a cause of the problem. It reflects the difficulty of sustaining complex aircraft in a resource-constrained environment, and it raises questions about whether the aircraft was genuinely restored to full airworthiness when it returned.

THE ONDO CRASH AND ITS ALLEGATIONS

The ex-DSS director’s remarks come amid allegations that the Ondo State crash was preceded by warning signs.

ValidViewNetwork earlier reported that the aircraft developed an engine fault in Benin City on Sunday, October 4, a day before the crash, and that technicians worked on it overnight before it departed for Lagos on Monday morning.

The aircraft crashed minutes after departure.The brother of a deceased female sergeant alleged that his sister had told him the aircraft had a technical problem and had stopped in Benin City to be fixed.

The Nigerian Air Force has denied any cover-up, with Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame saying a thorough investigation is ongoing and that the issues raised will be examined as part of the investigative process.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Aneke, has said the investigation would involve military and civilian aviation safety experts, including representatives of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau.

THE SYSTEMIC DIMENSION

Ejiofor’s analysis aligns with a broader pattern that has been documented over years of military crashes in Nigeria.

Between 2015 and 2025, Nigeria lost multiple military aircraft in crashes across the country, including in Kaduna, Abuja, Borno, Niger and now Ondo states. Each crash was investigated. Each produced findings. Each was followed by assurances that lessons had been learned.Yet the crashes continued.

The question is why.Possible answers include:· Underfunding of maintenance budgets: Capital procurement attracts attention and contracts, but recurrent maintenance is less glamorous and more easily deferred.

· Procurement bottlenecks: Spare parts acquisition can be slowed by bureaucracy, delays in foreign exchange allocation and inflated contracting.

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· Loss of institutional memory: Experienced engineers retire or emigrate, and their replacements lack the depth of practical experience required to keep complex platforms airworthy.

· Operational tempo: The military is engaged in multiple theatres, the North-East, the North-West, the South-East and the Niger Delta, stretching personnel and equipment.

· Oversight gaps: Investigation reports are not always made public, which prevents public scrutiny and accountability.

THE HUMAN COST

The 25 people who died in Ondo State were not statistics. They were crew members and passengers serving the country. Their families are waiting for remains and answers.

If Ejiofor’s diagnosis is correct, and the pattern of previous crashes suggests it is, then the deaths were preventable in the sense that they resulted from decisions made years ago about budgets, maintenance and procurement.

That is a harder truth to confront than the idea of an unavoidable accident.

WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN

The investigation into the Ondo crash must be genuinely independent, as AAC presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has demanded. Maintenance and procurement officials should not investigate themselves.

Its findings must be published.

The Nigerian public has a right to know why 25 people died. And the systemic failures identified, maintenance funding, spares procurement, engineer retention, fleet age must be addressed with the seriousness they deserve.

WHY IT MATTERS

Nigeria’s military aviation is not merely a matter of pride. It is a matter of capability.

A nation that cannot keep its aircraft airworthy cannot sustain air support for troops in combat, cannot conduct effective surveillance over vast territory, and cannot respond quickly to emergencies. The crashes are a symptom. The disease is neglect.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the former DSS director’s comments add to a growing body of concern about military aviation safety in Nigeria. The NAF has pledged transparency. Families of the victims are still waiting for answers.