Don’t meddle in NCAA internal matters, former scribe tells AON chairman

A former Deputy General Secretary of Airline Operators of Nigeria, (AON) and the Chairman of Hudson Bay Aviation, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur has faulted comments credited to the Chairman of AON, Alhaji Abdulmunaf Yunusa over what he described as his meddlesomeness in the internal matter of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA).

The AON boss was reported to have written to the President of the Senate to request the removal of NCAA from the civil service to enable it to offer salaries that could attract experienced manpower to the authority and save it from the dearth of appropriate staff to effectively oversight aviation sector.

He advised Alhaji Abdulmunaf to rather concentrate on building his airline that was just coming out of the authority’s hammer over safety concerns than raise unnecessary alarm to create panic and fear in the minds of the flying public.

Alhaji Mohammed noted that NCAA has the most skilled and experienced manpower in the subregion which enabled it to acquire the American Federal Aviation Administration, (FAA) Category One status adding that the country has laboured hard to build the regulatory authority to a global standard such that beginners like Alhaji Abdulmunaf should not be allowed to pull it down through unguarded statements.

“If the remunerations of the staff of the authority have become contentious matter, it was not the duty of AON as a body to champion the cause adding that if there was a need for such input from the operators there is an open channel of communication between the NCAA and the operators on one hand and the Ministry of Aviation.”

He further opined that if the staff was not being properly remunerated as propagated by AON Chairman, the workers’ union was the appropriate body through its collective bargaining to initiate dialogue with the management of the regulatory agency for salary review and not the business of airline operators.

Alhaji Mohammed stated that he was not convinced that the AZMAN Airlines boss was speaking the mind of all the members of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, (AON) noting that the purported statement was self-indicting on the part of the operators as they have by such letter has admitted that they were not properly being oversight by the authority for lack of manpower.

“This position also tends to imply that Nigerian aviation is not safe for investment, it is also likely to push up insurance premium and the cost of aircraft lease among others’ he further stated.

While advising the Senate to ignore the so-called letter from the Abdulmunaf, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur called for strict sanctions against all those behind the purported letter from AON to Senate.

Wole Shadare