This statement came while Stella Oduah was trying to deflect criticism of her record after the country's second deadly accident in 15 months.

She was speaking to journalists at the presidential villa on Monday, three days after sixteen people were killed in a small passenger plane that crashed shortly after take-off outside Lagos airport's domestic terminal.

"We do not pray for accidents but it is inevitable... We do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents, but it is an act of God," she said, adding "We do not speculate on the cause of accidents."

Last year a Dana Air flight crashed into a Lagos apartment block which killed 163 people in the country's worst airline disaster in two decades.

Nigerian newspapers and Twitter exploded with angry responses, in addition to this Oduah's predecessor is calling for her resignation.

Air crashes are relatively frequent in Nigeria where a sophisticated financial sector and large professional class depend on flights. 

An investigation has yet to reveal the cause of the crash.