Culled from Premium Times
It is highly outrageous to buy two
vehicles, any kind of vehicles for N255 million. Yet, in saying this,
let it be known that it is also outrageous for mainstream media to rely
on reports of online media, which most of the time are laced with
gossips and rumours, for serious aviation reports. Now that Nigerians
are outraged about the exaggerated reports on the purchase of the
vehicles, the facts of the matter have been eclipsed as the first report
always finds a listening ear.
But it is good to deliberate on the
motive behind the report and preceding reports before this last one.
Princess Stella Oduah as Minister of Aviation has jolted the apple cart.
In her strive to make desired changes in the sector, she has excavated
the status quo. There are certain trends that have defined the aviation
sector. There are always since 1999 those who use lopsided agreements
and contracts to milk the aviation agencies. There are also those who
use aviation related associations to sustain their lives and the
aviation union executives rely on agency heads and succeeding ministers
to make money in the sector.
Stella came and changed all that. These
people were denied their source of material life by Stella and these are
people behind the forces that coalesced against her.
It is said in the industry that two
people before 2011 made noticeable changes in the sector. One was Peter
Igbenedion who was the Managing Director of the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) during the Abacha years. In retrospect also,
kudos goes to Mrs. Kema Chikwe who was also the Minister of Aviation in
the first tenure of Chief Obasanjo as Nigerian President. Story had it
that she was pressured to leave, just as Stella is being pressured now
and that when she was eased out, broom was used to sweep out her
footsteps from her office. But when she left, the same people
acknowledged and still acknowledge that before Stella, Kema Chikwe was
the best performing Minister of Aviation since civilian rule in 1999.
When Oduah was appointed, there were
three subsisting agreements that were controversial. One of them was
Maevis which was managing the revenue of FAAN. FAAN said that the
agreement was lopsided against the agency to the extent that the agency
did not know how much accrued in its coffers as Maevis every month gave
it a hand out, a situation where a principal is being handed over money
by its contractor. The agreement, to the agency was obnoxious and it was
eating its revenue and hampering development of the 22 airports under
its management.
Three Ministers came when the agreement
was enforced, including Felix Hyat who just witnessed its unveiling,
Babatunde Omotoba who was there when FAAN workers started crying out
against the agreement and alleged rip of FAAN by the agreement. He did
nothing. Felicia Njeze came and smiled away few years later without
doing anything about it. Stella came and did something. She revoked the
agreement!
She was attacked with all kinds of
arsenal, including media and court scud missiles. She remained unshaken.
Other Ministers did not have the courage to do anything because of the
Giant Eagle that facilitated the agreement and the agreement was aimed
to rip off the agencies and empower some individuals.
Another agreement was the Pan Express
agreement which gave the company the right to collect revenues from
cargo and pay FAAN certain amount of revenue every month. That agreement
was easily eased out because it did not come from the Big Eagle.
Ironically that was the only decent agreement that was drawn not to
strip FAAN its revenue; in fact, before the company started work, that
source of cargo revenue for FAAN was in limbo, but it was done away
quickly as soon as contrived agitation against it started.
Then the big masquerade of agreement
which is still subsisting: the Bi Courtney concession agreement to build
the domestic terminal in Lagos which initially was given for 12 years
and was later extended controversially for 36 years without the expected
approval of the Federal Executive Council, as Obasanjo recommended when
the letter for the extension was presented to him by the then Minister
of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode. In the letter requesting for the
extension, Obasanjo responded, “No.” That it should be taken to FEC for
approval. The approval never took place and since then Bi Courtney has
done everything possible to use the courts to get the extension and it
remains at best controversial.
How did Oduah cross the way of Bi
Courtney? The company realising that it did not have enough apron to
park aircraft in MMA2, claimed that the General Aviation Terminal (GAT)
belonged to it and pointed out a clause in the agreement that said no
other domestic airport terminal should be built in Lagos without
deferring to Bi Courtney. Oduah defiantly made it clear that GAT which
she dismantled and rebuilt under one year, did not belong to Bi
Courtney.
Then there was the AIC Limited which
claimed that many years ago a portion of land meant for expansion of the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos terminal was given to the
company to build hospitality facility. But for years nothing was done
at the portion land and recently with terror threats and the inevitable
need to have another terminal at the Lagos airport, it became
unrealistic to build such facility at that portion of land. Stella Oduah
overruled that quest.
The highly placed, powerful people
behind these companies have been injured by the Minister. But her
purpose is obvious: that for the aviation industry to develop and
progress there must be an end to these rip offs and that the assets that
are meant for Nigerians should not be coveted by a few highly placed
people at the expense of over 160 million Nigerians. The war has been
drawn. Stella Oduah must go!
The Foot Soldiers
As stated earlier, the labour union
leaders and some association executives rely on aviation agency heads to
sustain their existence. A former Director General of the Nigerian
Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) kept the Aviation Round Table (ART)
leaders on a payroll. Other agencies like FAAN, the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency (NAMA) give them contracts. But these contracts
stopped when Oduah became the Minister. In protest, the attacks against
her came in torrents to the extent that the President of ART, Captain
Dele Ore at one time alleged that Oduah threatened to kill him. Some
aspects of the media made a savoury of it.
Two major associations in the sector,
the Air Transport Service Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN) and the
National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) have fought and won
many wars, so they are feared in the industry. So their leaders became
very powerful, so whenever they needed money they would call a press
conference and attack one agency or another or the existing Minister.
They would be placated, of course with “gifts” to keep them quiet for
some time. This shameful trend has continued to this day.
That was why a wise former Director
General of NCAA decided to keep the ATSSSAN president permanently in his
payroll. He gave his wife a job in NCAA; bought him a car and many
times a year sponsor him to overseas training with large estacode. He
fully bought his loyalty. The same ATSSSAN president capitalised on the
labour feuds with airlines and agencies to fix his other siblings at
Aero Contractors and NAMA.
So the major problem of Oduah is that
she left this group of people in the lurch. There is the Airline
Operators of Nigeria (AON) whose officers are permanent because for over
12 years it never conducted elections. The Assistant Secretary General
of the association, Mohammed Tukur has used that platform to sustain his
life in the industry. He became a propagandist. This became apparent
when he and others in AON fought against Arik Air in favour of Bi
Courtney, when Arik Air insisted that it was not going to operate from
MMA2, the new terminal built by Bi Courtney.
Curious people then were asking: Is AON
fighting for the welfare of the airlines of that of Bi Courtney. Many
journalists who were shocked by that shameful act did not write the
story. Today, it has ceased to surprise anybody because the man is
unpretentious that he is a paid propagandist. As he campaigned against
Oduah today, he can campaign for her tomorrow.
Stella Oduah underestimated this force
or she had pre-empted them. But she must have believed that she would
win most of them over by her development strides. In under two years
Oduah changed the face of many airports in the country. She rebuilt many
and expanded others. She completed what remained of the Total Radar
Coverage of Nigeria, provided the most sophisticated weather reading
equipment for the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, and acquired low level
wind shear equipment, the weather Doppler radar and low level wind shear
alert system which have been installed in all the airports. These
equipment ensure that accurate weather data are given to the pilots.
Recently the Minister acquired modern equipment for the Accident
Investigation Bureau that in less than one week after the Associated
flight crash the preliminary report of the accident was out.
The Minister who is expected to be
praised by these “activists” who presumably love the industry because
they have spent most of their years there, have nothing now but derision
for her. They described her remodelling of the airport terminals as
mere paint work. They said she has not done anything in the industry and
they have concentrated in characterizing her only legacy in the
industry as “slippery tiles.” But above all, and this is the critical
point, they also accuse her of what they now characterise as
“chopping” alone.
That is the crux of the matter: she
“chops” alone. That is also the grouse the members of the National
Assembly: the Minister of Aviation is “chopping” Alone. They believe
that for awarding all these contracts for the remodelling of airport
facilities that so much money must have accrued to her. Who will
question that when it has always been the trend in Nigeria?
Oduah must have realised by now that
many people who talk about development in the aviation industry are
really not interested in development; they are interested in their
pockets. And as she had closed all the doors against them to make money
from “their industry” what does she want them to do? Clap for her for
improving the airports. In fact, Captain Dele Ore in his anger and
frustration, allegedly said she must go now; that the armoured car
bought for her “will not save her.” That was a veiled threat. That also
showed how desperate they are!
There are two issues that must be
pointed out. If Stella Oduah is removed it means the old, status quo
which is anti-development has triumphed and it can be predicted that as
the airport terminals where work is going on presently are, so they will
remain for many years to come. It has happened in the past. If Oduah is
left to do her job, this attack will continue but at the end Nigerians
will have better airport facilities and improved air transport sector to
show for her efforts.
Captain Kingsley, an aviation consultant, sent in this article from Lagos.
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