The general secretary of Nigeria Aviation Professionals Association, NAPA, comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu has advised the incoming minister of aviation to address the Acts establishing all Agencies by reversing them to ensure productivity.
Speaking in an interview in Lagos, Saidu said some of the parastatals have more than 50 general managers and over bloated work force which is giving way for redundancy.
He blamed the politicians for using the political will to bastardise the agencies.
According to Saidu, the ills in the aviation industry can only be corrected by reversing the Act establishing some agencies which only gave room for four parastatals as against eight and above as obtained in some agencies today.
While emphasising on the need to stick with approved conditions of employment, Saidu advised that government should avoid over bloating of workforce, maintaining that the ugly trend began in the early 2000.
He noted that services of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA has diminished, adding that non of the country’s airport has been certified.
Saidu urged the minster to as a matter of urgency address the issue of inefficiency to save the aviation industry.
Saidu urged the incoming minister of aviation to look into the infrastructure at the airports to ensure that those structures not in line with ICAO standard should be jettisoned in order not lose the category one status of the country.
NAPA secretary queried why it has taken the government years to construct one airport adding that passengers were bearing the brunt.
He also called for immediate payment of accumulated debts by airlines and other concessionaires to enable agencies meet their responsibilities.
Saidu decried the level of lawlessness in the system adding that withholding of money collected by a concessionaire was criminal.
In his words, “aviation can never be stable without asking where Nigeria Airways is. It’s the edifice of the nation, Nigeria Airways did not owe what they claimed the airline owed. They must publish how much the properties of the airline were sold and those that bought if the change must start in aviation.”
He noted that domestic airlines in the country no longer train pilots and engineers but dependent on the Nigeria Airways old hands.
Saidu condemned the way military has taken over civil airport in the country as against the FAAN aviation security, saying that it was not proper to see the military all over the airport under a democratic process.
