Aviation agencies deserve governing boards under incoming government

AS Nigeria and its over 200 million citizens await a new government to take over the mantle of running the affairs of the most populous African country for the next four years, expectations are high from all angles.

Without mincing words, the present atmosphere has not been that palatable to the majority of Nigerians and the entire system owing to different reasons, ranging from bad governance, to global economic meltdown to corrupt practices and many others.

The negative implications of these anomalies have not exempted activities within the various sectors of the country’s economy where most government officials, including the political class have capitalised on.

This state of lawlessness, which has remained the bane of the sectors, has not excluded the country’s aviation sector as witnessed in the unsatisfactory model adopted by the outgoing Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, in running the affairs of the agencies of government under his ministry.

While it is on record that the minister is the longest serving aviation minister having remained in the position for a stretch of eight years uninterrupted, he will also be remembered for being the minister that single handedly managed the affairs of the sector without governing boards of the different agencies.

For the eight years of his administration, Sirika called the bluff of all key players that dared to make a case for the constitution of these boards whose roles include promoting transparency and checkmating any executive lawlessness.

Despite the directives and uproar over the need for him to constitute the governing boards for all the aviation agencies under his ministry, the minister chose to run the agencies as a part of the Ministry of Aviation unchallenged.

How the minister has succeeded in relegating this necessary arm of governance without being called to order by the National Assembly and the relevant government authorities with ease remains a mystery.

Agreed that the minister may have had his way, especially as his tenure remains two months to expire, but the fact remains that by the time a new government and minister steps in, the negative implications of not having governing boards will start unfolding and by then, it may become difficult to rectify the damaging impacts.

Many stakeholders who have spoken against this illegality and have described the minister’s carefree attitude towards the issue as an affront, have attributed this singular anomaly to why some actions taken by the minister have boomeranged.

The positions of the key players cannot be far from the truth as the presence of the governing boards would have questioned some policies of the minister that rather than help reposition the sector have ended up compounding its problems.

Perhaps, if the minister had for example hearkened to the voices of reasoning, his decision to demolish the Lagos office of the Accident Investigation Bureau, now Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) and relocate the workers to Abuja would have been contested by the governing boards.

From all indications, the loose freedom enjoyed by the minister which must obviously take its toll on the entire sector after his tenure would have been greatly minimised if he had allowed the governing boards to perform their functions of check and balance on issues bordering on policies.

It is sad that one year after the unpopular demolition of the NSIB office in Lagos, some of the heavy gadgets purchased with huge public funds are wasting away while some workers are still hibernating and working at home.

Besides this, there are many other decisions taken by the minister that are hanging in the air due to the failure to carry out due diligence required, which the governing boards would have nipped in the bud if they had been allowed to function.

It is, however, hoped that the incoming government will avoid a repeat of this costly mistake and many others which have been responsible for the snail-like progress so far recorded in the sector.