By Kenneth Ehigiator
FOR sometime now,sanity had been restored in the nation’s aviation sector after the storm that hit it in 2005 and 2006, following the deadly crashes that claimed hundreds of lives.  The accidents served as a wake-up call for managers and operators in the industry who obviously took up the  gauntlet of reforming it and making safety friendly.

At present, the nation’s air space remains one of the safest on the continent of Africa, what with the provision and installation of safety critical facilities as the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria, TRACON, Doppler weather radar at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, and radio communications gadgets, amongst others.

The role played by the regulatory agency, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, in driving the industry to its current confidence-enhancing status cannot be emphasised, especially considering the fact that the Director-General of the agency, Dr. Harold Demuren, remains a leading light to other CAAs on the continent and across the world.

However, the NCAA appeared a lone ranger in the crusade to change the industry for the better, as other agencies, especially the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, constituted a weak link in efforts to raise the stakes in the sector to make it comparable to what holds elsewhere in the world.

Suffice to say that while the regulatory agency was tackling issues of safety and security in the sector, decayed infrastructure remained the lot of airports across the country.  Demuren, himself, had often expressed frustration about the sorry state of facilities at airports across the country, to the extent that none of the nation’s airport is today licensed and certified in accordance with standard operating procedures, SARPs, of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO.

It became clear that the airports authorities needed an administrator in the mould of the NCAA boss to drive developments at airports.  This explains why the recent change in the leadership of FAAN came as a respite of some sort, particularly noting the profile of the new Managing Director of the agency, Mr. George Uriesi, who had, during his stint at Capetown Airport in South Africa, proved that an airport could be managed efficiently to profitable level.

It should be noted that the ability of FAAN to manage the nation’s 22 airports would go a long way to assist the regulatory agency to further up the stakes in safety and security, if Nigeria were to sustain the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s certification which conferred Category 1 status on her aviation sector as one of the safest six in Africa.

Vanguard learnt that FAAN’s immediate past Managing Director, Richard Aisuebeogun’s tenure was expected to expire this month and he was to have proceeded on terminal leave two months to the end of his tenure in accordance with civil service rules when he was asked to go.

That his replacement came from within the system knocked out the the erstwhile restivesness that had often characterised appointment of parastatal chiefs from outside the aviation sector.  Uriesi was FAAN’s Director of Airport Operations before his recent appointment and is, therefore, very conversant with the workings of the system in the agency.

It should also be noted that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, fared better than FAAN in complementing the regulatory agency’s efforts to uphold safety and security in the sector.  Before the expiration of his tenure last April, Engr.

Ibrahim Auyo, steered well the ship of the airspace agency.  He saw to the completion of the TRACON project which was abandoned before his appointment.  With TRACON, airline operators and pasengers’ confidence in air travel had been further boosted, from the ebb it sunk in the aftermath of the fatal crashes.

The coming on board of Engr Nnamdi Udoh as the new Managing Director of NAMA has , to many observers of the industry, reinforced the agency’s ability to ensure the nation fully maximised the gains of TRACON.  As Director of Engineering Services, Udoh midwifed the project and is better placed to ensure its sustenance.

There is no doubt that Auyo laid a solid foundation for his successor to build on.  As in the case of FAAN, the fact that the new NAMA boss was appointed from within the system has elicited the confidence of stakeholders in the industry who had always canvassed the need to stop appointment of people into key positions from outside the aviation industry.

The case of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, is not far removed from the situation in NAMA.  The outgone rector of the college, Capt. Adebayo Araba, rescued the institution from a comatose state, where it was unable to produce a pilot for almost a decade because of the decay it sunk for a long time.

Currently, the college has regained its lost glory as the premier aviation training institution in West Africa, but again the fact that his successor was appointed from the system reinforces government’s commitment to ensure  that the successes recorded by the college in the past few years are sustained and improved upon.

Capt. Araba’s tenure also expired last April, and his exit has paved way for one of the most senior female instructors of the college, Capt. Chinyere Kalu, to assume duties as the new rector.  The fact that she has been in the college for an appreciably long time apparently gives her the leverage to continue the development strides of her successor.

Unlike the controversies and furore that trailed previous appointments in the industry in the last seven years, the current ones apear to have met the expectations of stakeholders in the industry, as not much of dissenting voices had been heard, especially from the vociferous unions.  Besides, the tenures of those who just left offices had been the most stable in the industry in recent times.

It is the opinion of Assistant Secretary-General of Airlines Operators of Nigeria, AON, Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, that the new hlemsmen in the three agencies should consolidate on the achievements of their predecessors, especially as they were all appointed from the industry itself.  For him, appointments into other critical positions in the agencies should be of people in the industry and not aliens to aviation.

Vanguard learnt that the changes were informed by the transformational agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan who now wants to use aviation to drive the nation’s economy as it is done in most developed economies of the world.

Although Aviation Minister, Princess Stella-Oduah Ogiewmonyi, could not be reached for her comments on the recent changes, but a source close to the Ministry of Aviation said the development was informed by the need to inject fresh blood and energy into the affected parastatals.

According to the source, the minister is confident those appointed will help drive her vision for the sector as well as the transformation agenda of the federal government.

“The new appointees are vastly experienced and professional experts in their own fields. Aviation is also a very technical field where care must be taken in appointing helmsmen of parastatals. Moreover, they were the most senior technical directors in line and it would have been unfair to side-track them to bring in outsiders as this has the potential of undermining the spirit of the service.

“All the appointments were made based on merit, professional expertise, experience on the job and seniority.”

This same position was held by the immediate past Chairman of the Board of NAMA, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who noted that the appointment of the new chief of the agency was based on merit and his professional competence.

With the tranquility that had trailed the latest appointments in the industry, stakeholders are hoping that the days of super-imposing non-aviators, people who know next to nothing about the workings of aviation, as parastatal chiefs are over.