Q1: For aviation, govt’s on right path

Aviation industry in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2017 was dominated by appointments, sack in the various agencies and shutdown of Abuja airport runways repair, which was a disaster waiting to happen had government not gone ahead to rehabilitate the broken down facility.

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) surprised many when it released in one day, four accident reports, which curiously had remained on the shelf of AIB many years after the accidents occurred. The quarter started slowly but added pace after the Federal Government effected long awaiting changes in the agencies that affected many directors and some General Managers.

One event that kept people talking was the release of Dana and three other accident reports on same day by the Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Mr. Akin Olateru who was appointed in January 2017. He was commended by stakeholders. Other reports were those involving OAS Helicopters (Nig.) Limited, which sad accident occurred at Oke-Oba Hill, Ikonifin, Osun State, on July 29, 2011.

The others were those of Bristow Helicopters that crashed in 2013 inside the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and one involving Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Safety and Security with the registration number 5N-BKS, which occurred at Benin Airport, Edo State on July 15, 2012.

The Dana report, which was the focus of many showed how the pilot of the ill-fated crash, an American, Capt. Peter Waxton crashed the MD- 83 aircraft on four buildings two minutes before the aircraft was expected to land at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

The Dana report also stood out because of the huge number of casualties. Olateru was appointed to head the agency and quickly released the reports many said had gathered dust on the shelf of the accident investigative body for over five years. The report indicted the crew and airline and spelt out many things that were defective with the flight by simply attributing the disaster to pilot’s error.

It came with a wave of sack and right placement of staff, which kicked off from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Some directors and general managers, among others, allegedly employed in breach of due process were given the boot. A committee on the restructuring of aviation sector agencies headed by Ms. Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation recommended the measures.

Indeed, FAAN, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) were said to have paraded more general managers than the agencies have requirement for.

The general impression that was given of the nation’s troubled aviation is that irregularly recruited staff were the sole bane of all aviation sector agencies. The sector found itself on the back seat for many years because of the recruitment of misfits in top positions in the sector who were brought because of their closeness to a former Minister of Aviation.

Some fellow in the commanding heights of aviation sector agencies superintended and acquiesced to the wrongs the government is now trying to get it right in the aviation sector through restructuring. Only a care free management with scant interest in the account books of FAAN would, for three years (2013- 2016) allow the theft of N70 million by a Level Six officer as was reported not too long ago when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) intervened and arrested the staff concerned.

The theft was perpetrated through the manipulation of furniture allowances alone for the said three years. It was also widely reported that the EFCC officials discovered about N3 billion in the various bank accounts of the Managing Director of one of the biggest agencies in aviation.

Worried by the rot in the system, President Muhammadu Buhari,shortly after, approved the appointment of Captain Fola Akinkuotu as Managing Director NAMA, Professor Sani Abubakar Mashi – Director- General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Captain Abdulsalam Mohammed -Rector, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria and Akinola Olateru, Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).

For some reasons that were not made public, the government spared the Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman and the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Saleh Dunoma.

The retention of the duo of Usman and Dunoma had unsettled the sector for what many alleged to be ‘poor performance’ from them. They felt that the two key agencies needed to be injected with fresh blood and the zeal to take the sector to the next level. Those who want Dunoma out based their argument on the fact that the FAAN MD has clocked 35 years in service and the 60 years mandatory retirement age permissible in the nation’s civil service.

When on December 10, 2016, the Federal Ministry of Aviation announced its proposed closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for six weeks, precisely from March 8 to April 19, 2017, it explained that it was to effect repairs on the runway.

Shortly after that, controversy trailed the proposal, apparently because of the dangers the closure may expose the users of the airport, including travellers, airline operators, travel agents and particularly officials of the foreign missions in Nigeria. The runway designed in 1982 and expected to last for 20 years, had lasted for 34 years. The lifespan had been exceeded by 14 years without adequate maintenance.

While announcing the planned closure of the ever busy Abuja airport runway, the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, warned, “If we fail to close the runway, it will eventually shut down itself. We want to take advantage of the dry season to fix it.” Sirika was worried that the continued deterioration of the facility will make operations unsafe.

Nigeria’s hitherto biggest airline, Arik was taken over by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) on February 10, 2017. The carrier was ailing. Arik Air has been in a precarious situation largely attributable to its heavy financial debt, totalling over $400 million, occasioned by bad corporate governance, erratic operational challenges and other issues.

Consequently, the airline had since temporarily suspended its flights to New York, United States, saying the two Airbus A330-200 aircraft dedicated to the route have been taken to France for ‘C’ check at the same time. Equally more than eight aircraft are currently grounded making it difficult to meet their routine commercial flights.

Sirika recently staked his reputation and career by vowing that he would resign if the April 19, 2019 deadline is not met, describing as false media reports (Not in New Telegraph) that the Federal Government had extended the deadline for the completion of work on the runway, which had reached 57 per cent completion stage.

Speaking on the Abuja airport runway closure and picking Kaduna as alternate airport, aviation consultant and former Director of Operations of defunct Nigeria Airways, Capt. Dele Ore, said: “I salute the courage of the minister for the bold, decisive and appropriate action in shutting down the Abuja airport runway.

It was long overdue. God has been so kind to us. That runway would have claimed so many lives. Previous governments could not be decisive, rather, they were playing politics and playing with people’s lives.” Ore disclosed that the runway surface of Abuja airport had become a death trap due to negligence and failure to maintain it periodically, stressing that moving to the alternate airport in Kaduna would not have been necessary if government had listened to Aviation Round Table (ART) on the imperative of a second runway for Abuja.

From the foregoing, there is a deliberate plan by government to reposition the sector through high level manpower enhancement and attacking the repair of the Abuja airport runway with such a speed that is required to tackle the malaise plaguing almost every facet of the economy.