ART Calls For Immediate Constitution Of Aviation Boards …Says Boards Will Check Arbitrariness, Unprofessional Conducts

A non governmental body made up of different professionals, Aviation Round Table (ART) has lent its voice to the continuous calls by the different stakeholders in the sector on the federal government to inaugurate the governing boards of the aviation agencies without further delay.
The president of the professional body, Air Commodore Ademola Onitiju,retired, made the call while delivering his speech at the 3rd quarter of the business breakfast meeting of the ART in Lagos on Thursday.
According to Onitiju on behalf of the body, the call for the inauguration of the aviation boards became pertinent to check arbitrariness,unprofessional conduct and unnecessary interference in the activities of the agencies.
“Good institutional governance practice will embolden aviation agencies to ethically demand and enforce good corporate governance practice by airlines and allied stakeholders in the aviation sector and Nigeria will be better for it.These are snippets of our advocacy towards a safe, secured, more efficient, comfortable and profitable aviation business in Nigeria.”
Th body used the opportunity to equally emphasized the critical importance of human capital development in the sector, urging the government to tackle it headlong.
In view of this, Onitiju on behalf of the body reminded the government of the need to grant adequate funds to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria to train more professionals to address the shortages currently being experienced in the sector.
Amidst the economic challenges confronting the sector, the ART suggested that as a way of palliatives for the sector, “we recommend the suspension of operational charges including aeronautical and navigational for a period of 24 months as part of measures to reduce local air fares and encourage the growth and development of local airlines to make them competitive and profitable.
“We must protect our airlines from the adverse consequences of Open Skies and AfCTA operations. When the local airlines thrive, revenue will accrue to the government and regulatory authorities. For us at the ART, political will is all that is required to actualise what is being suggested. We dare say that there is an existential threat to the aviation sector in Nigeria as the exchange rate of the naira to other international currencies is in a dire strait.
“Protectionism in the national interest and survival is permissible in global political economy. President Bola Tinubu and his team must frontally tame the unruly inflation triggered by the stench from the conspiracy of a few in the oil and gas sector whose consequences continually strangulate proceeds from the life blood of Nigeria’s economy. Institutions are the backbone of every society. We must strengthen them and entrench institutional governance through regular practice of accountability,transparency and responsibility.”