Standalone aviation Ministry worries Olowo, seeks sector’s ‘shutdown’ over greenhorn as Minister

Former President of Aviation Round Table and President Sabre West Africa, Dr. Gabriel Olowo said the country did more harm to the aviation industry in all my years in the sector by giving the sector a Ministry.

He said he was of the view that aviation should be a department under the Ministry of Transportation just as it is in the United States.

Nigeria under the administration of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua experimented with Olowo’s idea by putting aviation under the Ministry of Transportation but frictions between the supervising Minister of Transportation and the Minister of State for Aviation that supervised aviation made it unworkable.

Pressure and petitions from some experts in the sector who initially welcomed the idea when it was mooted saw the need to go back to the status quo.

Olowo, while speaking with Aviation Metric on Thursday said making aviation a department under the Ministry of Transportation would have less political interference and manipulations on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and significantly reduce the cost of governance with an already lean purse.

His words, “Aviation ministry has done more harm to the industry in all my years in the sector. I am of the school that it should be a Department in Transportation just as it is in the US. It will have less political interference and manipulations on CAA and significantly reduce the cost of governance with an already lean purse.”

The economist equally felt disappointed with the ‘non-professional’ appointed as Minister of Aviation, noting that the failure to appoint tested people like the former President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Dr. Bernard Olumuyiwa Aliu or a former Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren and other tested hands as Minister of Aviation should lead to the ‘shut-down’ of aviation in Nigeria.

According to him, ” Let us shut down the aviation ministry if the President can not appoint tested aviators such as Dr. Harold Demuren, Dr  Bernard Aliu, and others to lead the sector.

The appointment of Festus Keyamo (SAN) to lead the aviation industry has led to divided views. While some commended President Tinubu for picking a very brilliant lawyer and erudite Keyamo, some others are worried that a greenhorn may actually compound the woes of the sector that is in dire need of a rescue.