In less than two months from now, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will be leaving the stage to give room for a new one as it would have then completed its eight years of running the affairs of the most populous African country.
No doubt, the outgoing administration has tried its best in the different sectors of the economy through the various officials that were appointed or selected to oversight the sectors including the parastatals and agencies of government.
One of such sectors is aviation where Senator Hadi Sirika would have managed for a long stretch of eight years come May 29, 2023, thus becoming the longest serving minister in the history of the country’s aviation.
The appointment of Sirika as the substantive aviation minister in 2019 by the Buhari government having initially served as the minister of state for aviation under the ministry of transportation gave him the power to now run directly the affairs of the ministry of aviation and agencies of government that fall under the aviation sector.
The agencies include: the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), an agency saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the airports across the country are structurally well positioned towards seamless air transport.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is another agency established to ensure all navigational aids and relevant personnel are always up to the standards for subsequent safe airspace and the smooth take off, landing and clear separation of aircraft.
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), generally known as the country’s aviation regulatory body on whose shoulders lies the major function of over sighting the total adherence to safety rules guiding the principles of a safe and secured aviation rules in line with the international standard and best practices, is also one of the agencies.
The other three government organizations that fall under the supervision of the ministry are: the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), the only agency of government that investigates air accidents and incidents until it was recently further empowered to extend that role into other mode of transports like road, rail and marine, the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT). Zaria, the institution responsible for preparing the different aviation personnel who will in return manage the core professional positions in the sector.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), is another agency of government that is established to among others, project, prepare, interpret, and document government policy in the field of meteorology; and to issue weather (and climate) forecasts for the safe operations of aircraft, but under the ministry.
Besides his supervisory roles on the agencies, the minister is expected to help in the formulation and implementation of national policies and programmes for development and regulation of civil aviation in the country as well as devising and implementing schemes for the orderly development and expansion of civil air transport.
Without doubt, and in view of these weighty roles, more is expected from whoever is wearing the cap of aviation minister.
No wonder majority of the different professionals within the sector heaved a sigh of relief when Senator Sirika who coincidentally is a pilot was announced as the aviation minister by the administration of President Buhari
Many of the stakeholders who described the appointment of Sirika as adequate, based their position on his supposed familiarity with the terrain, hence, the notion that he must know what the challenges are, and waste no time in handling them.
Due to the sensitivity and uniqueness of the sector coupled with its being one of the most regulated in line with international standards devoid of any emotional or local politics, the minister as an aviator was expected to avoid taking any action that may jeopardize the efforts to reposition the sector for better recognition in the global aviation community.
Agreed that the minister during his administration took some steps that impacted positively the sector among which are: the certification of some airports, infrastructural upgrade of some airports with the commissioning of the multimillion Naira new terminal building at the international wing of the Lagos airport, though with some deficiencies.
While the upgrade of the dilapidated runway at the Nnamdi Azikwe International airport at Abuja that was abandoned for a long time was a positive step taken, his tenure will be remembered for installing the ground airfield lighting at the domestic runway 18left at the local axis of the Lagos airport which was neglected for over fifteen years.
His ability to dabble into international aero politics on behalf of the country will never be forgotten in a hurry as witnessed in his boldness and that of the NCAA to pay back the Dubai authorities in their own coin by suspending Emirates airlines from flying into Nigeria to reciprocate the hostility of the UAE authorities towards Nigeria’s Air Peace airline and the Nigerian travelers.
The successful handling of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic with the speedy recovery of the sector coupled with the birth of new domestic carriers at such a time when many airline businesses collapsed globally cannot be ignored.
This was made possible by the release of the intervention funds for the airlines and the other aviation allied businesses even though the released funds was like dropping a pin in the ocean in view of the capital intensive nature of airline and other aviation businesses.
As good as Sirika’s intentions were, he at a point got carried away by treating the sector as a personal enterprise where he thought he could run it without the Input of other key players.
It is on record that by the time his tenure will be ending on May 29th, he would have earned the title of the most audacious minister to single handedly run the ministry and the aviation agencies for eight years without inaugurating the required governing boards.
Despite the illegality, how he was able to mesmerize the National Assembly’s aviation committees to deny the sector of the boards that would have carried out their functions of checks and balances on issues affecting it left so much to be desired.
Obviously, the minister’s refusal to inaugurate the boards according to so many stakeholders was a deliberate attempt to enable him have his way unchallenged for if the boards had been allowed to exist, they would have contested so many unpopular policies of the minister and this would have saved the sector from some embarrassing actions taken by the minister.
Among such unpopular policies he took included the now troubled Nigeria Air project which is been contested in a Lagos high court due to what has been described as its non-Nigerian status based on its composition and loose privileges which the proposed airline will enjoy at the expense of the domestic carriers.
Sirika bungled this good idea by allowing his individualistic nature to override contributions from many other stakeholders whose inputs would have assisted him in coming up with a new national carrier that will be acceptable to the generality of Nigerians.
Other major unpopular policies the minister will be remembered for was the unwise demolition of the Lagos office of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) and the relocation of its major workers to Abuja while others are left roaming about Lagos with no office to operate from.
His move to concession the most lucrative airports across the country to unknown concessionaires in secrecy even when he has less than two months to exit the stage remains another bubble waiting to burst as the aviation unions are spoiling for a serious war with him.
His failure to resolve some of the numerous litigations hanging on the head of government in his eight years remains a negative impact on the ease of doing business in the sector.
Among such litigations was the one between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) over the expected number of years the private operator is allowed to manage the private terminal otherwise known as MMA2 which was built on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis.
The litigation between FAAN and the management of Maevis, a former concessionaire engaged by FAAN to provide the Airport Operations Management System (AOMS) platform in the nation’s four international airports over the sudden termination of the the concession is pending.
The litigation process instituted against same FAAN by A.I.C Hotels Limited, owned by the now late Business mogul, Chief Harry Akande over the control of the controversial piece of land at the international wing of the Lagos airport is another bad baggage hanging on the federal government’s agency unresolved.
The latest of such litigations is the one instituted by the aviation unions challenging the competency of the minister and FAAN in going ahead with the planned concession of the most lucrative four international airports across the country.
These and several other court cases are pending between FAAN and many other concessionaires and yet the minister for his eight years as an aviator who should know how such cases may drive away private and foreign investors looked away and still believe other similar projects like the airport concessioning will materialize.
Had the minister eaten the humble pie by going through the due diligence of engaging the different key players, and with the contributions of the governing boards, he would have succeeded in most of his missions for the sector.
The greatest mistake he made was choosing to run the sector like his personal business where the ideas of others do not matter, forgetting that the sector has the most intelligent and the best brains in the various professional groups including the unions who cannot be ignored without fighting back.
Unfortunately, now that the minister should be rounding up his activities in preparations for whoever is coming after him, his actions and inactions are further compounding the myriad of challenges bedeviling the sector.
With the fate of Nigeria Air hanging in the court of law and the latest dragging of the government to a court of law by the aviation unions over the controversial plan to concession the four international airports and many other projects that are not feasible in the little time his tenure remains, all hands are on the deck to see how the minister will be able to swim through the tides of uncertainties blowing everywhere.
One obvious fact is that even if the minister chooses to go ahead with some of the controversial projects in view of his resilient nature, such actions may not stand the test of time and this may mean a lorry load of troubles awaiting the incoming successor.
