‘Why we need a change of guard in NCAA’

The Federal Government has been called upon to continue its right placement exercise in the Nigerian aviation industry in order to throw out some incompetent personnel in the agencies especially Directors and General Managers appointed into the system.

This is just as the government has been urged to ensure the removal of the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Muhtar Usman, accusing him of jettisoning training in the regulatory agency.

Speaking on the issue, the Secretary-General of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Olayinka Abioye, said that the recent right placement exercise at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was inconclusive.

He alleged that some names were unscrupulously removed from the list by some people in the agency, which the unions had presented to the minister of state for aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, but without response from the ministry.

Also, he recalled when the unions drew the attention of the Minister to the non-implementation of the exercise in other agencies like the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the minister ignored the unions.

On the recent removal of some Chief Executive Officers in the agencies,  Abioye said the government was on the right track saying some of the affected CEOs were already on their way out through age while the other was on the verge of completing his tenure as a Director-General in the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET).

He insisted that there should be a change of guard in NCAA, saying that the helmsman had consistently abdicated his duties and taken some steps, which may affect safety in the system if not removed.

“In all honesty, I will also prefer that there should be a change of guard in the leadership in NCAA. The consensus is that the CEO of NCAA is more out of office than been in the office and you cannot do this job by being out of office consistently, which is not good for the system.

“Some airlines owe their staff for up to three months and more and NCAA is pretending not to be aware of that. We have a situation in our hands were taxes and contributory pensions are being deducted and not remitted and NCAA cannot pretend not to be aware of all these things.

“Also trainings are not what they used to be, which is the bedrock of NCAA. You cannot expect an inspector for instance who have not acquired knowledge on an aircraft to go and inspect it when he doesn’t have the knowledge.”