Key Highlights
- Disappointment with the performance of the Minister of Aviation: Comrade Olayinka Abioye expressed disappointment in the performance of Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation, despite his professional background in the sector. None of the six points agenda set by Sirika in 2015 has been achieved by the government.
- Failure to implement airports concession: Abioye criticized the government’s failure to implement airports concession despite the planned phase one exercise, and suggested an alternative Greenfield option for investors.
- Criticism of planned demolition at Lagos airport: Abioye condemned the planned demolition of facilities at Lagos airport, stating that the new terminal was wrongly placed and that challenges at the airport could be addressed within six months using technology.
The incoming government has been advised to overhaul the activities of the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika in the sector in the last eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Comrade Olayinka Abioye, a retiree from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), stated that the sector in Nigeria requires a complete turnaround as he also expressed disappointment in the performance of the incumbent Minister of Aviation.
Speaking with Nairametrics in an exclusive interview in Lagos over the weekend, Abioye specifically expressed disappointment with the performance of Sirika, despite being a professional in the sector.
According to Abioye, none of the six points agenda set for the industry by Sirika in the last quarter of 2015 was achieved by the government.
The roadmap agenda unveiled by Sirika in the last quarter of 2015 at a stakeholders’ forum held in Lagos, were airports concession, the establishment of a national carrier, the development of agro-cargo airports, the development of Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facilities, the establishment of Aviation Leasing Company (ALC) and aerotropolis.
For instance, he stated that despite the planned concession of some of the airports in the first phase of the exercise, the government was unable to do so, adding that all the advice given by the minister on the project was jettisoned by him.
Abioye further explained that the roadmaps unveiled by Sirika were first showcased by a former Minister in the sector, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze during the former President Goodluck Jonathan era.
In his words, he said: “The roadmap that he is glamorizing all over the place has been on the ground since Mrs. Fedelia Njeze came on board. That was the woman that prepared the blueprint before Stella Oduah came on board. Oduah had a big gathering selling this roadmap to us, which Sirika later polished and added his own. The minister has failed in the last eight years.
“There is a need for a turnaround of the bad things Sirika has done in the last eight years. There is a need for a complete overhaul of the activities of the government in the past eight years. Concessioning is a good thing, we have told the minister what to do with concession.
“We have the Greenfield option, which is very simple. FAAN has landed all over Nigerian airports. Bring your investors to go and tap into those virgin lands and they can do whatever they want there, including the aerotropolis.
“What do you want to concession at the Lagos airport for instance? It was until we dragged him that he now said it is the terminal that he wants to concession because of infrastructure decays, which any serious chief executive can tackle within a year.”
Abioye insisted that all the challenges at the Lagos airport could be addressed within six months by a serious government, maintaining that technology had simplified activities.
He also condemned the planned demolition of some of the facilities at the international airport in Lagos by the government, insisting that the new terminal at the airport was wrongly placed.
Sirika had said about two weeks ago that there was no going back in the demolition of EAN Hangar and Dominion Hangar, claiming that the two buildings were obstructing the expansion of the apron wing of the new terminal.
