MANY Nigerians are relieved to see the departure of Adaeze Stella Oduah, former Minister of Aviation, whose tenure was tainted by the alleged inflation of costs of vehicles one of the parastatals in the Ministry purchased. The long-drawn controversy indicated public interest in vetting the conduct of public officials, a welcome development that we suggest should continue.

Her departure has thrown up another matter of interest to the public – the fate of some of the programmes she initiated, programmes that if completed should change Nigeria’s aviation for better.

Stella Oduah, Aviation Minister

They are contained in the Aviation Master Plan and Road Map, the first in the country’s aviation history. The master plan includes a robust revision of the Civil Aviation National Policy, for the first time in more than 12 years.

Part of the master plan is the designation of 16 airports close to the nation’s food baskets for perishable cargo to enhance preservation, conditioning and transportation of perishable cargo in accordance with international standards and best practice. The project is still in its infancy.

The remodeling of all the 22 federally-owned airports across the country has resulted in improved passenger experience. Some of the airports were earmarked for more improvements. At no time did all the nation’s airports benefit from the extensive work that has been done on them. Also completed are six terminals for Christian and Hajj pilgrimage operations.

Simultaneous construction of five modern, international passenger terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu is unprecedented. The airports are in use, though the works are not completed. When completed, they would align with global operations standards.

A new impetus given to the upgrading of power, security and installation of cutting-edge navigational aids, timely weather observation, forecasting and reporting were some of the measures that were envisioned to improve safety.

Nigeria’s Accident Investigation and Analysis Laboratory, built during her tenure, is one of the only four of such facilities in Africa. It is the only one in the West African sub-region. With the on-going upgrading of Nigerian College of Aviation Technology to enhance its training capabilities and provision of human resources requirement of the aviation sector, the industry was keyed to the future.

Perhaps, her most ambitious project was the proposed Aerotropolis, a development that would have created a modern aviation city in Abuja, complete with its own services and generating spin-off businesses.

The freshness her tenure brought to aviation should not cease with her departure.

A new Minister of Aviation could be tempted to start afresh, but we suggest that a sustenance of policies and programmes that serve the public would see to the completion of the projects, to reap benefits of the investments in them.