Aviation Unions Demand Professional As Minister

Individuals who are highly
connected, groups and representatives of different regions of the country are intensely lobbying for the appointment of the Minister of Aviation.
Barely two weeks after the removal of the former Minister of Aviation,    Princess Stella Oduah, aviation unions have started clamouring that a professional in the industry should be made the next Minister of Aviation.
Apart from the demands of the aviation unions, certain highly placed individuals in the sector are lobbying to decide who the next minister should be and where he or she should come from.
Last Saturday, aviation individual stakeholders, consisting of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Aviation Round Table, and professional unions in the aviation industry called on President Goodluck Jonathan as a matter of urgency to appoint a professional with technical background and interest of the sector as minister of aviation.
The stakeholders in a press conference in Lagos, said they had written a letter to the President to express the seriousness of their agitation, which they said was non negotiable.
Addressing newsmen, the convener of the meeting, the Chairman of Aviation Operators of Nigeria (AON), Captain Nogie Meggison, said there could be no better time to appoint an aviation professional as minister than now, given the enormity of challenges in the sector.
An industry consultant and CEO of Belujane Konsult, Chris Aligbe said that for the aviation to develop and grow as a viable economic entity, it is necessary that the Minister of Aviation should be an aviation professional.
Mr Aligbe noted that the sector needs a person that can function like an entrepreneur who has business sense to transform the airports and make them sources of generating wealth, adding that the places where professionals are needed are the aviation agencies.
“I totally agree that professionals should head the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the other agencies. But a Minister of Aviation is a person that should know how to grow the non-aeronautical revenue of the airports, somebody that will bring business into the airports so that the sector can contribute to the nation’s GDP. In some countries, non aeronautical revenue generated by their airports is about 70 per cent compared to aeronautical revenue,” Aligbe said.
He recalled that in the defunct Nigerian Airways Limited (NAL), the Managing Director that turned the airline round was non-aviation professional, adding that pilots, engineers and others in the industry hold tight to their skills and are efficient in their fields but may not be efficient in transforming the industry into a viable economic resource, which is the trend in the rest of the world.

Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority Of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr George Uresi (2nd-left), former Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Oduah (middle) and other officials arriving the Calabar International Terminal on inspection visit, recently.