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Unease  in Nigeria’s aviation over last minute changes, employments

THERE is an air of uncertainty blowing round the aviation sector following the  last minute appointments and employments carried out by the immediate past minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.

Unhappy with the former minister’s action, Aviation workers led by the  union leaders are calling on the President Bola Tinubu led government  to urgently reverse all the last minute employments made by the former administration.

The unions and the workers have based their grievances on the ground that the controversial appointments and employments lacked due diligence.

The workers cited in particular the replacement of the erstwhile managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) generally known as a core professional with a new boss from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,a situation that has elicited criticisms among the workers of the agency and the sector in general.

Most key players who expressed their displeasure at the replacement of the NAMA MD, lashed out at the former minister for refusing to confirm the appointment of the former MD who was left in the acting capacity for almost two years in contradiction to the rules guiding such appointments.

Querying why outsiders who knew next to nothing on aviation issues were foisted on NAMA by the former minister at the detriment of capable hands that abounded in the agency, the unions lamented how over new 200 workers were mysteriously employed in NAMA by the former minister without having regard for the country’s quota policy.

The workers who equally condemned the decision of the former minister to create new directorates for the purpose of employing his loyalists, however called for the urgent collapse of the new directorates on the excuse that they are not relevant to the system.

Commenting on the controversy, the general secretary of Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu described all the last minute appointments as  unnecessary.

According to Saidu “They don’t know everything about administration in aviation. How can you remove somebody as a managing director after acting for one and half years and send him back as a director. He is a core professional. I am referring to Mr Pwajok. The whole professionals in NAMA called for his confirmation but to no avail because they wanted to bring in somebody”.

The union leader who confirmed that a petition has been forwarded to the government over the issue, remarked: “That man will never stay there until they bring back Pwajok and we have written to President Bola Tinubu.”

He faulted the employment of some people into the fire and safety department of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) .

“Look at the calibre of people employed into the fire and safety department of FAAN and trained in Kaduna, that is why aviation is nose diving seriously because those who knew the job that have served for over two years have been victimised and are not happy as a result of being deprived the opportunity to get to their peak in service.”

Saidu condemned the constitution of board of directors by the Minister in less than two days to his disengagement even as he praised President Tinubu for the reversal of the shenanigans.

In his contribution, MrOlumideOhunayo of Zenith Travels supported the dissolution of the Sirika’s last minute constitute boards, describing the government’s intervention as the right way to go.

Ohunayo who lamented how the organogram of the agencies in the aviation sector had been bastardized with various appointments made towards the end of the last administration, pointed how all the appointments were not in line with the federal character commission while some of the newly employed were not qualified, saying that they added burden of payment on the parastatals.

Ohunayo joined others in calling for total overhaul of the whole last employment and a thorough audit of all the finances of agencies in the aviation industry immediately.

Shola Adekola

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