Points of View

AFTER the initial misconception, misgivings, and misunderstanding that greeted the decision of the Federal government to concession Nigeria airports in phases, depending on their categories, the Minister of State (Aviation), Senator Hadi Sirika, the man handed the responsibility to turn around the fortune of the ailing industry appears to have struck the right chord with stakeholders, staff of agencies, the …

NIGERIAN domestic private airlines operators and their politically exposed supporters in and out of government know their ways to drawing funds from our commonwealth in government coffers for their benefits alone without considering the consequences of their actions on the overall social economic well-being of Nigerians. In not very transparent manners, these operators, organized themselves, without involving the ministry of …

THE Honourable Minister of State for Aviation had recently briefed the public and the industry stakeholders of government plans to concession certain airports to private investors as part of the larger plans to privatize some public enterprises. Following the Honourable Minister’s Briefings, there had been some emotional reactions from the public and more too from the aviation stakeholders who ordinarily …

JOHN Ojikutu ON Sunday 11th September 2016, the free world joined the United States of America to mark the 15th anniversary of the terrorists’ attacks on the symbols of American’s Economy, Democracy and Liberty in New York and Washington. It was definitely not a day for celebration, rather a day for sober reflection on the implication of the attacks to …

OUR attention has been drawn to another petition written by Nigerian Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) in its series of petitions and malicious media attacks aimed at bringing down Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB). The management of AIB had initially decided to ignore NAAPE’s attacks and focus on its primary assignment but counsels from concerned members of the public …

THE present travails of the Nigeria Aviation industry, particularly the airlines are not about scarcity of fuel and the lack of foreign exchange; their travails stem from management structure, single ownership and poor financial management of local and foreign earnings, the recurring debts portfolios and the diversion of earnings to invest in other businesses. While the government service providers particularly …

THE man we know as Engr.Chukwuma Emmanuel Diala and his positions in the Accident Investigation Bureau(AIB) cum ex-Nigeria Airways staff It is imperative to note that the sustainability of all the investigations and the running of the core functions of AIB has been the passion of the person of Engr. Chukwuma Emmanuel Diala the Director of Engineering in the Bureau, …

THE Minister of State for aviation should, as a matter of urgency, convene a Stakeholders’ Conference that will draft and present a National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP}. We need the policy to tackle common bottlenecks to propel Nigerian aviation. The new policy should reflect liberalization and be pro growth. Some countries have done it. India’s new NCAP is designed to …

LAST Tuesday, September 13,2016,the  Minister of State, Aviation, Sen Hadi Sirika landed in Lagos from a trip and immediately moved to settle a trade dispute between Aero Contractors and its workers. When he got to the airline’s headquarters, the situation had even become worse as the workers were on a protest, over the shut down of operations amidst unpaid salaries …

IT was very interesting last Friday to see the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), stand with the Minister of State, Senator Hadi Sirika to beg workers of embattled Aero Contractors to postpone their protest till Monday to see what can be done to ameliorate the situation. However,   as watchers we cannot help but ask the questions …