Safety in the African skies, what is the solution?

Africa’s aviation safety is probably the worst in the world compared to other regions. According to IATA the average of aircraft total losses in Africa is more than 9 times higher than the world’s average. Statics highlight that the rate of fatal accidents per million of departures is 8 times higher in Africa than the world’s average. What is the reason for this?
Ageing aircrafts, lack of maintenance and technical faults are among the factors to blame for the accidents on the African continent. As one US aviation official is quoted as having said ‘just whole sale disregard for safety’.
Take for example the crash of the Airbus A310-300 belonging to Yemenia in June this year. The flight was on its way from Sanaa to Moroni when it crashed in the Indian Ocean with more than 150 people on board.The crashed aircraft had been cited for technical faults earlier, according to France transport minister Dominique Bussereau, and “banned” from French airspace. However it could still fly over African airspace.
"From Paris to Sanaa everything is fine, by the book. But from Sanaa to Moroni, they board you like you were getting into a minibus in the bush; no one has assigned seats, it's first come, first serve,'' said Mouijui Abdou, a Comoran who went to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport following news of the crash.
Also according to a United Nations report the average age of an aircraft in Africa is 20years as opposed to 10 years for the rest of the world. A significant number of Africa’s airport do not meet ICAO (International Civil Aviation Authority) standards and recommended practices. According to the same report, Africa had about 4000 airports and airfields in 2007 of which only 20 percent had paved runways. Runways, taxiways, parking spaces, passenger and freight terminals...are in such a poor condition that they require a major rehabilitation and upgrading.
What then is the solution?
African states need to establish effective safety oversight systems. This includes qualified personnel to exercise safety oversight in accordance with international standards. This unfortunately is a challenge because most qualified personnel have to be trained abroad and the costs of training aviation personnel are very high. There is therefore a need for money to be invested in the training of personnel.
More money also needs to be invested in aviation infrastructure including buying more modern aircrafts and getting rid of ageing aircrafts. Since Angola took the decision to ban the use of ageing aircraft from the former USSR in civil air transport services in 2003, no aircraft accidents have been reported so far in that country.
Operating regulations aligned to international standards need to be put in place and strictly adhered to. Regular audits of aviation operators need to be done with serious action being taken aganist airlines and operators on the continent that violate air safety measures. IATA is taking a lead role in this for its 240 member airlines through the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) program. This is a quality audit program under the stewardship of IATA which is internationally recognised and is an accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline.
In some countries where safety oversight systems may be available this may be based on an outdated legal frame work or laws and regulations that date back 30 or 40 years ago. These need to be revised to handle the issues affecting aviation safety today.
African governments also need to be actively involved and proactive on behalf of aviation safety. To quote the words of IATA’s Director General and CEO, “Governments also have a role. The challenge is for governments to cooperate and jointly provide and recognise standards, licensing and training”. He added, “Safety is a team effort. IATA is working closely with all its members to deliver results. Safety oversight is a government responsibility. They must be equally committed to providing resources and leadership. Working together we can make Africa’s skies safer”.
As a last resort, there may be need to blacklist or ban aircrafts that do not meet safety requirements from operation. Already the EU has gone ahead and blacklisted several African airlines that it considers not safe for its nationals to fly with.