Sirika, don’t go your predecessors’ way

Just last week, President Muhamadu Buhari approved the appointment of Capt. Musa Nuhu as the new Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The appointment of Nuhu put paid to hope of a former DG, Capt. Muhtar Usman, retaining his seat for another five years.

Usman had completed his first five year tenure as DG of NCAA. Immediately his tenure ended, there were allegations of strong lobby for a second term. At the end of the day, Capt. Nuhu was found worthy to head the agency.

Nuhu, until his appointment, was Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the International Civil Aviation organisation (ICAO). He is an airline pilot, a safety expert, a quality assurance Lead Auditor as well as an Artificial Intelligence expert.

Capt. Nuhu is a thorough bred professional and he is expected to bring life into an agency whose workers’ morale is down and one that has lost the respect of stakeholders.

Out of the six agencies in aviation, four are headed by aircraft pilots. One is an aircraft engineer and the other is a professor of geography.

The recent appointments in some key agencies of the aviation sector, to say the least, are less than satisfactory.

Not a few are questioning the lop-sidedness of many of the appointments in aviation that do not make for inclusiveness of all as they see many of the appointments coming from certain areas of the country.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, needs to balance some of these appointments to give it a good balance and sense of belonging to many. Qualified people abound in every part of this country.

There are many questions than answers in these appointments; one that equally exposes the underbelly of the entire system.

Nigerians hardly learn from history. The same thing was done during the tenure of Stella Oduah, except that Sirika applies better caution by appointing people with track record in key positions.

Not all the recent appointments in aviation are faulty. Some of the appointees have excelled and hit the ground running, while majority of them are still lost as to what their jobs entail.

Some have proven their mettle. Sirika got it right with the appointment of Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Akin Olateru and a few other appointments. Many others appear as misfit for the big positions they hold.