BEVERLY HILLS, February 26, (THEWILL) – The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has stated that the ongoing reorganisation in the aviation agencies has no connection with the visit of the Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos.
Sirika said this in a statement issued in Abuja at the weekend by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, James Odaudu.
He explained that the visit of the Acting President on Thursday was to assess the state of facilities at the nation’s number one airport and also identify possible areas that needed the immediate attention of
government.
Noting that a section of the nation’s media decided to establish a link between Osinbajo’s visit and the recent reorganisation at the nation’s aviation agencies, the minister declared that “it must be made clear that there is no basis to link both events together”.
He continued, “the reorganisation in the agencies is part of an ongoing process to reposition them to properly and adequately carry out their regulatory mandates.
“It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, at inception, placed aviation among top priority areas that will be reorganised and repositioned to contribute more to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“It, therefore, amounts to an error of judgment to attribute the reorganisation to the visit of Osinbajo to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
“Practitioners in the media industry are, therefore, advised to always cross check their information before going to press in order to avoid unnecessary controversies and stop misinforming the public.”
The Federal Government had on Friday carried out a major shakeup in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, by terminating the appointments of nine directors.
It also announced the appointment of three directors and a general manager for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, to replace the directors it sacked in October 2016.
But about 24 hours after the sack of the NCAA directors, the federal government recalled two of the aviation chiefs.
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