* If during the tenure of Oduah, 2,000 people were employed, 95 per cent of those numbers were from the south east of Nigeria
Barely 24 hours after the removal of Stella Oduah as the minister of aviation by President Goodluck Jonathan, a union leader and an expert in the sector have called for the review of all the appointments made and contracts awarded during her tenure.
Those spoken to by National Mirror insisted that most of the appointments were lopsided and did not follow the labour rules. They said that most of those engaged by Oduah were from a particular part of the country.
Oduah had immediately after her appointment in the first phase engaged about 75 staff in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, while
other agencies like the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA and the Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB were to follow.
In a telephone chat, the President, Aviation Round Table, ART, Capt. Dele Ore, said that there was no rationale for most of the appointments made by the minister in the sector.
He cited the appointments made in NCAA, saying that the agency, which required experts, was ‘flooded’ by those who had no knowledge in the sector.
Ore alleged that those appointed by the minister were those who are presently causing confusion in the industry and safety hazards in the sector.
He said: “They are causing confusion and when the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO and the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, come calling, they will ask for their papers. Those people will constitute safety hazard and potential danger in the industry because they are raw materials that should be trained.
“I am not saying they should sack all of them, but some of them are not required in the system. It is going to be a big challenge for the DG, NCAA, as the industry is presently composed.”
Also, the Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, Comrade Olayinka Abioye, insisted that the appointments were irregular, lopsided and tended to suggest to the players in the sector that it was a mission of a regional personality.
“For instance, if during the tenure of Oduah, 2,000 people were employed, 95 per cent of those numbers were from the south east of Nigeria. We believe as we have repeatedly told the government that they violate the principles of federal character. Not only that, it also violated the existing condition of service in the various parastatals where these people were sent to.
