I have heard people call for the sack of Minister for Aviation Stella Oduah. Some of the loudest voices calling for her head include the cantankerous Femi Fani-Kayode and more recently Lagos based activist Bamidele Aturu.
They say there has been one too many airplane crashes across the country in the past few years. They say she has not been doing her job properly. Fani-Kayode, in his typical loose mouthedness, called Stella Oduah a blood-sucking vampire. Aturu says that those who have the mandate to manage our aviation sector are snoring. I am sure he meant that they were in deep sleep while our aviation sector was having serious challenges.
I have heard some people say that Fani-Kayode does not have the leverage to attack Stella Oduah. They say that save for last minute resuscitation by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and eventual appointment as Public Affairs adviser and then Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode was a nobody who lived off his father’s name. They opine that Stella Oduah was a top oil industry professional and then a very successful entrepreneur before she was co-opted by the President to head the Aviation Ministry.
They say that while Fani Kayode got his ministerial appointment based on the strength with which he insulted President Obasanjo’s critics, Stella Oduah got hers based on merit and her ability as an achiever.
They also opine that as Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah has led the most ambitious aviation infrastructure Turn-Around Campaign in decades with a majority of our aviation terminals currently at various stages of rehabilitation and reconstruction completion.
In fact, they say that the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) conducted investigation on the Associated Airlines data recorder for the first time in Nigeria, thanks to the new ultra modern AIB office in Abuja.
That however, is not the issue at stake here. The issue is whose head should go?
For me I would suggest the head of the current Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Captain Felix Akinkuotu who incidentally was appointed about 7 months ago. Prior to his appointment, he was Rector of the little known College of Aviation, Ilorin which opened its doors to students in January 2012.
Felix Akinkuotu’s NCAA is the agency responsible for making sure that every aircraft that operates within the Nigerian airspace is healthy, safe, fully functional and operationally certified.
Every Nigerian aircraft that falls off the Nigerian sky is a dent on the capability of NCAA to act as the watchdog of our safety in the skies.
I hear that NCAA cannot seem to sustain itself and so is broke. I hear that because NCAA is broke, it cannot train and retrain its aircraft inspectors. I hear that NCAA currently suffers from a dearth of aircraft inspectors. I hear they cannot even pay the few inspectors they have. I hear that inspectors are prone to inducements from desperate airline operators who want their planes to fly at all cost. I hear that the inspectors could easily compromise safety and standards under pressure from the airline operators.
So what next? Relieve NCAA Director General Felix Akinkuotu of his job and then overhaul the Agency. NCAA is not a one year old flight training school.
WrittenBy George Kerley
georgekerley@yahoo.com
