Nigeria’s satisfactory performance at the recently concluded safety audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Universal Security Audit Programme-Continuous Monitoring Approach (USAP-CMA) on the country’s aviation sector has been attributed to the extra efforts of the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Barrister Festus Keyamo and the acting director general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Chris Najomo.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the NCAA, Mr. Michael Achimugu declared this in his response to what he described as mischievous comments by some commentators that both the Minister and DG, CAA were responsible for the alleged poor ratings the country suffered in the earlier audit conducted on the sector when the sector scored 71%, the percentage that fell below the accepted 75%.
According to Achimugu, rather than blame the minister and the DG NCAA who only came into office barely months ago after the failure of Nigeria at the initial audit, the duo deserved to be commended for swinging into action immediately to improve on the deteriorating infrastructures and poor remunerations of workers they met on ground.
Achimugu affirmed that the duo were pivoted to the latest higher grades rating by ICAO following “their leadership skills and dexterity in mobilizing manpower and resources to ensure all open gaps were closed else Nigeria would have scored 30 percent in the final outcome.”
His words: “Six months ago, we met a dilapidated industry with poor infrastructure. The security and safety issues did not start in the last six months. Had it not been for the tireless efforts of the Honourable Minister and the DGCA, what we met on the ground would not have scored 30% in the audit.
“Going by what was on the ground when Keyamo and Najomo assumed office, the current score is a substantially good showing, a miracle if I must say. The narrative being pushed out is just part of the larger strategy to push out Keyamo and Najomo from office. It is the handwork of paid mercenaries who have just one task.
“The ICAO auditors praised our performance during their final briefing at the NCAA. They even mentioned a scenario where they complained about an absent infrastructure but, to their pleasant surprise, it had been made available the very next day! They said that only Nigeria moves at such a pace in the face of criticism. If the ICAO experts were pleased, who are these puff puff experts to try to deceive the people?
“We have actual Intel about a media team being commissioned to cause continuous chaos until Keyamo is either removed or moved elsewhere because certain people want to take back ownership of the contracts they were busy allocating themselves and family members while critical infrastructure was growing dilapidated.”
“We will resist every attempt to deceive the Nigerian people. Keyamo did not become one of the starboys of this administration by doing nothing. He spent his first six months unbundling the rot in the system. Sadly, the rot runs so deep that six months are not enough to scratch the surface. They know this and it is why they are relentless in their fight. But the Minister and this NCAA will do everything to sanitize aviation. We are working and it is evident.”
