ANAP Calls on Keyamo to Ensure Appointment of Aviation Agency Boards

In order to advocate for the nomination of board members for additional aviation agencies, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) has called on Mr. Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development.

The ANAP’s General Secretary, Comrade AbdulRasaq Saidu, stated that the establishment of aviation agency boards and their subsequent appointment will strengthen systemic transparency.

But Saidu, who made this claim in a weekend chat with reporters in Lagos, praised Keyamo for appointing new board members for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

In order to keep improving system safety, Saidu claims that the ANAP and other aviation unions in Nigeria have been pushing for the necessary actions to be taken in the industry for a long time.

He pointed out that it was against the Acts that established the agencies to not nominate board members.

“I am urging President Bola Tinubu to appoint the boards of directors of other agencies to ensure justice and equity in the system,” he stated. In the sake of safety, ANAP has been advocating for the correction of all aviation industry irregularities.

Saidu pointed out that only the governing boards could enforce systemic discipline, combat unlawful contracts, stop employment and recruitment fraud, and supervise the daily operations of agencies.

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Saidu laments that in recent years, the opposite has been true, since the majority of contract awards and hiring made should have gone through the parastatals of the Governing Boards of Aviation.

Sen. Hadi Sirika, the immediate previous Minister of Aviation, was also criticized by Saidu for failing to designate board members for aviation agencies during his eight years in the position, even though former President Muhammadu Buhari had done so.

He stated: “ANAP has had periods where this subject was brought up without any numbers. Before Sirika departed office, nothing was done to officially inaugurate the several bodies that former President Buhari had appointed. That was how it died. Now, the same has been maintained by this administration.

Six months after Tinubu appointed them, Keyamo officially inaugurated the FAAN board members last Wednesday.

The board was to be chaired by Dr. Umar Ganduje, the former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and its vice-chair would be Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, the managing director of FAAN.

Additionally, Mrs. Bridget Gold, FAAN’s Director of Legal Services, was named the Board’s Secretary. Mrs. Dorothy Duruaka, Director of International Tourism Relations & Cooperation at the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Creative Economy, and Ahmed Ibrahim Sulaiman, Director of the Air Force at the Ministry of Defense, were among the other board members.

Additionally, Dr. Omozojie Okoboh, a representative of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Engr. Peter Vembe, Director of Aerodrome Development, Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, and Engr. Nasiru Muazu, Dean, Air Traffic Service, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), were appointed as members.