Jonathan names Chidoka as Aviation Minister

…Appoints Oyeyemi as new Corps Marshal, Abubakar as National Planning Minister

It was a day of excitement reigned in Nigeria’s avi­ation industry as Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday swore in Mr. Osita Chidoka as new Min­ister for Aviation.

Chidoka, until his appoint­ment was the Corps Marshal/Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).

He takes over from Ms. Stella Oduah, the erstwhile minister who was relieved of her appointment about five months ago, a period seen as too long to run a ministry without a substantive minister and for which many analysts and industry workers noted had created stagnation in the industry.

Meanwhile, the new Min­ister of National Planning and Deputy Chairman of the Na­tional Planning Commission is Dr. Suleman Abubakar, a former lecturer at the Univer­sity of Abuja, while Deputy Corps Marshal, Boboye Oy­eyemi is new Corp Marshal of FRSC.

Jonathan stated that the new ministers were being brought in at injury time to bring their experience to bear in the im­plementation of the transfor­mation agenda.

The appointment of Chi­doka as Aviation Minister, though overwhelmingly greet­ed with applause given the lull of over 5 months andthe need to speed up many projects, was not without some criti­cisms. While some industry stakeholders lauded his ap­pointment as timely given his background on safety as a corps marshal, a key requisite in the smooth operation of the aviation industry, others how­ever, condemned the continu­ous appointment of non-pro­fessionals to run the ministry.

Captain Nogie Meggison, Chairman of Airline Opera­tors of Nigeria (AON), who advocated the appointment of a professional as Aviation minister hinged his stance on the ground that though the immediate past minister, Princess Oduah, attracted ro­bust funding into the sector to boost infrastructure, her limited knowledge of aviation sector led to some of the un­popular policy decisions she made.

Megison said the aviation industry should not be made a learning centre for any minis­ter, hence his insistence on the appointment of a professional as aviation minister.

“It is only an aviation pro­fessional that will understand the problems of the sector, not a politician,” said Megison.

The new minister, however, will be inheriting an indus­try ridden with crisis ranging from a debt profile estimated at over N174 billion, that has stalled many ongoing projects, the absence of a national carri­er that has thrown up so many foreign airlines taking full advantage of the nation’s bi­lateral air service agreements without any reciprocity. Other constraints include the dearth of a viable domestic airline in­dustry, poor staff welfare and paucity of funds to carry out mandatory staff training.

However, one of the key mandates that stakeholders expect to see Chidoka handle with dispatch is the contro­versial concessions of avia­tion facilities to pave way for private, public partnership, which is the next step for the continued development and maintenance of airport infra­structure and the realisation of the aerotropolis project, which is contained in the Aviation Master Plan.


THE SUN