Senate has confirmed former Corps Marshal/Chief Executive of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), Osita Chidoka and former University of Abuja lecturer, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman as ministers.
President Goodluck Jonathan forwarded their nominations to the Senate last week. During screening of the ministers-designate, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu asked Chidoka how the FRSC had fared under his watch and what he hoped to do if President Jonathan gives him the Aviation ministry portfolio.
He replied: “FRSC that we know today discovered that Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road is the worst road in Nigeria in terms of death. Kaduna has about 500 deaths two times the national average. FCT has the highest number of crashes but the same number of deaths.
“The value we have brought to the FRSC is that it is a data-driven organisation. It is a knowledge driven organisation. The FRSC of today is ISO9001 certified. The law enforcement agency in Africa with ISO9001 certification and the fourth in the world.”
On the absence of a national carrier for Nigeria, he said: “I don’t have a very good picture of the national carrier. But I must say this, compared to other African countries, Nigeria is not doing very well in terms of passenger traffic.
“Between Lagos and Abuja, Nigerian airports are connected to about 61 cities, out of which only about 32 are international cities. Oliver Thambo Airport in South Africa is connected to 130 cities around the world. The airport in Turkey, in Instabul is connected to 170 cities around the world. Why are business class seats expensive in Nigeria? Because of constraints in supply.
“We can’t have a country of 160million people and have 14million passengers traveling on our airports.
The number is not good. It is too small for a country like Nigeria. The number of aircrafts coming in and leaving Nigeria are not big enough for the size of our economy.
“So, I think that we need to open up our space, we need to share our national aspirations to be a country that plays in league with the GDP size we have. We need to grow capacity and a national carrier may be the way to go. Whatever strategies we need to put in place to increase the number of seats that leave Nigeria is critical to making Nigeria open. If I do become the minister of aviation, I will talk to industry experts and stakeholders to see how we can unleash the vast potentials that Nigeria stands to gain.”
THE SUN
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