Headline News
Wanted: Emergency rule in aviation sector
By Vanguard
Dec 19, 2005, 12:14

AT last, President Olusegun Obasanjo has taken some positive steps to address the big rot in the aviation sector. But sadly enough, as in most other matters Nigerian, it has taken the crash of three aircraft within two months and the loss of 237 precious lives in the Lagos Bellview, Kaduna Beechcraft and Port Harcourt Sosoliso airline accidents to wake up the “Lion of Aso Rock”.

After the Saturday, December 10 crash, President Obasanjo summoned a meeting of all stakeholders in the aviation industry to the seat of power and held a wide-ranging consultation with them to address indepth the problems besetting the sector. After the meeting, the President set up a task force on the industry, headed by Air Vice Marshall Paul Dike. It has three months to submit a report after its formal inauguration today (Monday, December 19th) in Abuja. Already, the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have let loose upon that beleaguered sector and the proverbial heads are set to roll.

We are hoping this is not another typical fire brigade reaction that will be forgotten as soon as the mood of the moment expires. One hopes that the EFCC will really clean up the system, smashing up the mafia rings that have incubated corruption and converted our aviation sector to a zone of death and uncertainty. However, the EFFC “invasion” should be seen as a short term section of an over all comprehensive sector reform.

The President should immediately consider the emergency measures in the industry to include the appointment of a messianic reformer. Such a person should combine the daredevil raiding stunts of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of the EFCC, Mallam Nasir El Rufai of the Federal Capital Territory and Professor Dora Akunyili of the Food and Drug Control Agency (NAFDAC). At the same, the candidate should possess the transparency attribute of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and adopt the industrial repositioning strategies of the Central Bank Governor, Professor Charles Soludo and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Finance Minister.

THE longer term measure should include a very brilliant idea that the President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, mooted while on a condolence visit to the Loyola Jesuit College, the alma mater of the perished youth of the Sosoliso crash. Nnamani hinted that government must henceforth carry part of the financial burden currently being borne by private airline owners. The neglect of the needs of the sector and its operators has contributed to the lowered standards of safety and comfort. The Federal Government, he said, will have to look for a chunk of money, either from the federation account, surplus crude oil sales, external borrowing or even the external reserves to endow an aviation fund into which airline operators can tap.

Nigeria is about the only country where deregulation means total abdication of government responsibilities to the people, and their abandonment to the so-called market forces. Since the collapse of the Nigerian Airways, the Nigerian flying public were abandoned to the limitations faced by the private operators. Confronted with lack of credit and industry incentives on the one hand and limited capacity to pass the bill to the consumers on the other, the operators resorted to cutting corners and generally compromising the safety of their passengers, staff and aircraft. The government neglect extended to unwillingness to develop infrastructure, such as airspace radar coverage, instrument landing aids and emergency management services.

All around the world, the government is always the backbone of even the most deregulated or commercialised aviation operations. Aviation is subsidised just like agriculture. The best airlines in the world, including Swissair and Lufthansa were only a couple of years ago rescued from complete collapse by the governments of Switzerland and Germany, respectively. This is what I think the Senate President wants us to do as part of the total reform of the industry in Nigeria. The reasons for close government involvement in the aviation business are many. Unsafe skies suggest inclement environment for business and tourism.

IF visiting a country increases your chances of falling out of the sky, would you make the visit? A country that is frequently avoided for safety reasons has a bad image. Besides, a single air crash comes with a loss that cannot be quantified or repaired. How, for instance, could you assess the value of the young, promising Argonauts who were returning from Abuja in search of the Golden Fleece? How do you quantify the value of lives lost in the Bellview crash?

We are hoping that Obasanjo will swallow his pride and put away his friend, Aviation Minister, Professor Babalola Borishade, to other areas where his competence will come in handy. If he must work for Obasanjo, it must not be in these sensitive areas in which outstanding resourcefulness and the will to make a difference are paramount. Borishade’s disastrous outing in Education has followed him to Aviation. Obasanjo forced him down the throat of the nation after he was repeatedly rejected at the Senate. Though he is new in the Ministry, he does not need forever to show his hand of competence if he has it. Justice Mustapha Akanbi spent five years at the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). We did not even know when he left. But Nuhu Ribadu’s arrival at the EFCC made a difference starting almost from day one.
In the aviation sector we want a Nigerian with a mission, like the ones listed above. If only the President wants, he will be able to get such a person in the same way that he was able to find and hire the above-mentioned achievers.



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