Although many industry stakeholders are upbeat about the future of the aviation industry under the watch of Festus Keyamo, as the Minister of Aviation and Airspace Development, others have complained about the bloated appointment of directors in the aviation industry.
Last week the minister announced the appointment of 48
Directors in the five aviation agencies: the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigeria
Meteorological Agency (NIMET), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and
the Nigerian Safety Investigation Board (NSIB).
The stakeholders argued that with the current economic
situation, where government ought to be conserving funds, the minister was busy
with the bloated appointment of directors.
The General Secretary of the industry think-tank, Aviation
Round Table (ART), Olu Fidel Ohunayo, said the changes made were expected
because when a new administration takes over the saddle, it immediately follows
the existing tradition to appoint the people that would work with the
administration.
He however frowned at the appointment of a large number of
directors by the minister, which he insisted, ought to be trimmed down.
According to Ohunayo, “The changes are expected. Looking at
the trajectory of almost all the past ministers, we see that they always just
clear the table completely and bring in their own person, irrespective of the
party in place. It’s that kind of rat race. There is a blend between the
technocrat and bringing in fresh blood into the agency.
“But for the directors, I have serious issues there. We were
complaining about the high number of directors that was imposed on us by the
immediate past minister, which we saw that rather than do a staff audit that he
promised, in order to reduce the number as promised , he even expanded the
directorate. But unfortunately the new minister, without even listening to the
yearnings of the people, further expanded the directorate. And you expect these agencies to survive with
this expansion of directorate that requires more personnel, and more payment of
salaries?”
Ohunayo who expressed his displeasure over the appointment
of too many directors, said having that huge number brought into the industry
and agencies would be a huge financial burden.
“Sincerely, I thought the minister was going to look at the
issues and maybe return the directorate to the pre-Sirika era. But what have we
seen now? It has even gone beyond that. We have seen the appointment of
director of special duties, and the next step will probably be the appointment
of general manager, special duties; deputy general manager, special duties;
assistant general manager, special duties, and all the way down.
“Unfortunately, I think the decision was horrible. There are
too many directors here this time around. I thought they were going to work on
how they were going to reduce the weight at the top. Unfortunately, it has been
expanded upon. I am not too happy with that large contingent of directors. And
looking at them, Just like Sirika did, they have not followed the civil service
procedure; looking at the qualification and level of service. They just
appointed people close to them and put them in places. And I just hope this
will not backfire. We are looking for a new lease of life in the industry. But
then, not the one that is now being mixed with politics,” Ohunayo said.
He further said that despite the appointment of directors he
was hopeful that the administration would do well.
“We are here, and all we can do is to continue to ensure
that we tell the government to do the right thing. And I think for the
appointment of the directors, expanding the directorate, that was not right.
That’s going to put more pressure on the finances of the agencies and that need
to be looked at. Again, while we are appointing directors, we want to see the
board of directors, for the each of the agencies, there is need to curb
interference from the executive and also to curb the union between the executive
and the Ministry and the agency heads. We need the board for each of the
agency. It is in their act. That is what we want to see. Let us see the board.
I didn’t mind if you put this up on the board. But now, expanding the
directorate you are going to kill the
agency and their finances,” Ohunayo added.
Chairman of West Link Airline, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia,
spoke about professionalism in the industry and said politics has eroded
professionalism in the way aviation is run in Nigeria.
Mshelia said once politics is separated from civil aviation
the number of staff would be trimmed and geared towards who delivers technical
results and who propel the industry.
“Once we are able to separate these two, then you find that
even the internally generated revenue will be sufficient to take care of these
people very well at that. It will also help in reducing corruption in the
system, and staff will not allow themselves to be induced by management staff.
They will look them in the eye and say, this is wrong, that is wrong, stop
this, stop that. The heads of the agencies should have access to their money
directly when it’s needed. No bureaucracy. Remove all these civil service
things from aviation,” he said. - ThisDay
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