On assumption of office last year, President Goodluck Jonathan reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to building formidable capacity capable of driving the administrative machinery of the Federal Government.
This assertion, undoubtedly, was hinged on the President’s recognition of the indispensability of professional and well skilled personnel in the civil service. He promised to accord the civil service its pride of place in the scheme of things and urged all concerned in the training and retraining of the nation’s workforce to be proactive in the actualisation of this goal. This task by President Jonathan could not have come at a better time considering gross inefficiency, ineptitude, low productivity and ruse which have plagued federal civil service over the years.
One ministry that is key to Nigerian economy is the aviation ministry. The mandate of the Federal Ministry of Aviation is to formulate, update and implement the National Aviation Master Plan for the overall development of the aviation industry in the country. It is also to collect, store, analyze, and disseminate meteorological data to end users; install, maintain and upgrade equipment and infrastructure on timely basis and at all airports. To set and implement safety and security measures in the sector in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) requirements and recommended best practices for the enhancement of safety oversights. The Ministry’s mandate also extends to airports development and management, the provision of aviation security, and the improvement of airspace management.
There have been a lot of positive news emanating from the Aviation Industry lately and they are all tailored to give meaning to the Transformation Agenda of President Jonathan. The array of accomplishments the Aviation Ministry is hauling into its kitty is a testimony of the determined, focus and great leadership the Honorable Minster, Princess Stella Adaeze Odua has deployed to turn the Aviation industry around for good after years of lack luster performance.
Since the arrival of the current Minister, Princess Stella Odua, OON, who from the onset of her assumption of duties laid a solid framework for her Ministry to lineup with the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, there have been a lot of visible changes in our Airports, Airways operations and attitude of staff at various Airports. Immediately after she was sworn- in, Princess Odua undertook a tour of all Airports in the country to ascertain their state, and reasons why our airports have not been in good shape for years; and what is required to improve them for optimum use. With that, she prepared a Road map for all the nation’s airports to transform into world class standards.
This is unprecedented. Though many were skeptical about her capability to turn things around in the aviation industry, which all believe needed revolutionizing. But in just one year down the road, her accomplishments have proved any doubting Thomases wrong. Princess Stella has demonstrated ability, doggedness, competence and a lot of resilience to ensure that the Aviation Industry lines up with the Transformation Agenda of President, as well as with the policies and framework aforementioned which the Aviation industry has evolved through all these years to be here today.
Her handling of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement, BASA that involved the Arik Airline and the British Airways authorities brought to the fore her diplomatic ingenuity and negotiating skills. For the first time a Nigerian institution stood tall against the rampaging rascality of a foreign imperialism, which has most a times subjected our people and National Agencies or Institutions to serial manipulation. Not only did Arik Airline get back more landing slots into Heathrow Airport, the slots were increased to seven from four per week.
Interestingly, as part of effort to support the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, the Minister of aviation on assumption of Office embarked on key innovative interventions. In terms of real sector performance, there have been efforts by the Minister to ensure that airline passengers are not taxed excessively or exploited by agencies, airlines or those who are into Bi-lateral agreements with the Aviation ministry. She has ensured that air travel costs remain reasonable, and there has not been any appreciable increase since she took over at the ministry. The average cost of one hour travel within the country still hovers between N10, 000 to N30, 000. This is commendable in the face of all the distortions the system has faced in the past one year. Safety of passengers has also been a top priority of the Hon Minister except the unfortunate incidence of Dana crash. Our air space has remained safe despite all kinds of challenges ranging from natural circumstances to workers restiveness and activities of stakeholders and companies that have Bi-lateral agreements with the Aviation Ministry.
In all these, the Honorable Minister has maintained a sense of focus and duty that she owes Nigerians a duty to ensure that air travel remains affordable, safe and reliable at all times. In her remarks during the Bi-Courtney service charge impase, Princess Stella Odua declared “that the decision to stop Bi-Courtey from increasing the Passenger Service Charge from N1000 to N2500 was not only to forestall the illegal and unilateral increment, but also to protect the travelling public from undue exploitation. The Minister continued, “that Bi-Courtney unilateral increase of the PSC by as much as150% without carrying out wide consultation with the Grantor as required by the Concession Agreement, the Cancellation of Maevis Concession Agreement that was heavily skewed against the Nigerian People and government is a further testimony of her Nigerianess.
Simultaneous reconstruction and remodelling of 11 airports (passengers/Hajj/Pilgrims camps) under the first phase of the remodeling programme-the first such effort at rehabilitation of the decayed infrastructure in the last three decades. The GAT, Lagos has already been commissioned and in use. she equally secured approval from the Presidency and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the construction of five brand new International terminals as well as Cargo terminals from a concessionary loan from Chinese EXIM bank and got import duty waivers from the Presidency and the FEC on all imported aircraft and spare parts as part of effort to grow domestic airlines, she is working on the acquisition of about 30 new aircraft for domestic airlines through an intervention fund to re-fleet their airlines and boost their capacity and domestic operations, Plans have reached advanced stage to float a new National Carrier that will be completely private-sector driven and professionally managed too.
She also embarked on a foreign Investors’ Roadshow to attract foreign investors- New foreign investors already entering the industry as a direct result of this initiative, the automation of revenue centres in all the agencies to boost their revenue profile is to enhance transparency and accountability by plugging the leakages in the previous manual process of revenue collection and Institutional Reforms and restructuring of the agencies for achievement of optimum results-putting round pegs in round holes has been her major task.
There is no doubt that the Honorable Minister deeply understands the way forward for the aviation industry. In a recent address she sent to a seminar organized by Aviation and Allied Business Journal, she identified “lack of focused and good leadership as well as excellent corporate governance” as the bane of the failure of most National Airlines like Nigeria Airways, Ghana Airways, Air Afrique and others. She is also very passionate about professionalism and corresponding returns in any investment in the industry. She remarked that, “it is high time professionals are recruited to man sensitive positions in the aviation sector.” In fact the necessary ingredients for success in the aviation are well known to the Minister and therefore Nigerians should expect a complete Transformation in the Aviation sector during her tenure. The Industry has also done well in the issue of conflict resolution. When British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were penalized to the tune of $235 Million as fines for some offence, they appealed and NCAA set up a powerful panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Oguntade to look into the matter and was resolved without bad blood.
However, there is need for proper awareness on the Passenger Bill of Rights initiated by NCAA. If proper awareness is done through the Civil Societies, the safety standard will be further strengthened and the general public complaints will receive adequate attention as at when do.
Princess Stella Odua OON, the Honorable Minister of Aviation has indeed demonstrated that she has come to transform the aviation sector of the economy and all we need to do is to applaud her sincere efforts. The Senate President, Dr David Mark and House Speaker, Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal have at various fora hailed her remarkable achievements in so short a time. The House Committee and that of Senate Committee on Aviation also applauded her judicious usage of her ministry 2012 budget and commended her good work in transforming the industry. Her home State, Anambra during the 20th anniversary celebration honoured her alongside other distinguished Anambrarians for her performance in the aviation sector within the short period she was at the saddle. With all these, surely the Minister will see that “when one is praised for the things accomplished, the person is bound to do more”
Comrade Tosin Kakaki
Civil Society Activist
Writes from Abuja.