From Uche Usim, Abuja
Minister of State for Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, yesterday said the sack of directors at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), had nothing to do with the visit of Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to the Lagos Airport unannounced.
Sirika, who spoke through the Deputy Director, press, James Odaudu, said the sack was part of an ongoing reorganisation of the sector for greater productivity.
He said Osinbajo’s visit was strictly to assess the state of facilities at the nation’s number one airport and to see areas that required urgent attention.
“It must be made clear that the link between the two events has no basis, as the reorganisation in the agencies is part of an ongoing process to reposition them to properly and adequately carry out their regulatory mandates.
“The Buhari administration, at inception, placed aviation among top priority areas that would be reorganised and repositioned to contribute more to the nation’s gross domestic product and develop as a sub-regional hub for air transportation. It, therefore, amounts to an error of judgement to attribute the reorganisation efforts to the visit of the Acting President to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,” Odaudu said.
The Federal Government last week sacked all the directors in NCAA, but later recalled two. The duo are Adamu Abdullahi (Consumer Protection) and Ayodele Sasegbon (General Aviation).