A new shake up in aviation sector has consumed top brasses of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).African Business Travel New (ABTN ) has learnt.
ABTN sources disclosed that all the ten Directors of the agency have been asked to handover to the next most senior officers who will in the interim take charge of activities in the directorates.
Of the sacked direcors seven were substantive.
However, the Director General of the regulatory organisation, Capt Mukhta Usman survives the shake up.
All the 10 directors were shown the exit by the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika after the approval from the Federal Government.
The directors affected by the shake up include Alhaji Salawu Ozigi (Director of Finance and Accounts), Dr. Joyce Nkemakolam (Director of Aerodrome and Airspace Standards), Barr. Aba Ejembi (Director of Administration) and Mr. Emmanuel Ogunbami (Director of Licensing).
Others are Engr. Benedict Adeyileka (Director of Airworthiness), Mr. Justus Wariya (Director of Air Transport Regulation), Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi (Director of Consumer Protection), Capt. Ayodele Sasegbon (Director of General Aviation and Mr. Austin-Amadi Ifeanyi (Director of Human Resources).
Confirming the developnent, General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye in a telephone conversation,however declined to give further information.
He simply said that he was aware of the sack of the directors, adding that they were all political appointees.
“It is true that all the directors have been disengaged, but I don’t have details of their disengagement,” he said.
It was learnt that the Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman had told the affected directors of their disengagements at a meeting he convened on Thursday afternoon at Aviation House at the Murtala Muhamemd Airport (MMA), Lagos.
The news of the sack came as a rude shock to many of theaffected directors.
It would be recalled that some of the directors were sighted on Thursday at the airport when the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo paid an unscheduled visit to the facilities at the airport in Lagos.
They toured the facilities together with Osinbajo.
It was gathered that when Usman conveyed the sack to the directors, they all wore sombre look as they weren’t expecting such news from the ministry for now.
The relationship between Usman and his directors had not been cordial in the past few months as most of them openly complained about the helmsman’s style of leadership, who they accused of abandoning his duties with his frequent travelling outside his location and sometimes out of the county.
This position has been affirmed by some industry stakeholders who expressed their concerns over the poor economic audit of some domestic airlines before they were taken over by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
