Nigerians
woke up to the news this morning of the sack of the Director-General of the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren. In a less than satisfactory statement
released from the office of the Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator
Anyim Pius Anyim, the reason for the sack was given as “pressure from aviation
stakeholders”.
I
am extremely disappointed in the Federal Government for taking this decision
which, in my sincere and humble opinion, will set back the numerous
achievements of Dr. Demuren. Demuren is an experienced Aeronautical
Engineer. He was retired in 1995 as a Director of Safety Services in NCAA
because of his strict adherence to safety. He went
on to float Afrijet, where he served as the MD/CEO of the cargo airline. Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Dr. Demuren DG of the NCAA after the Bellview
and Sosoliso Airlines crashes to restore sanity to the aviation Industry. Dr.
Demuren went on to help Nigeria attain the US CAT 1 status after those
incidents. I honestly believe he has done well for the aviation Industry and he
deserves a better treatment.
Furthermore, one
wonders if this sack is as a result of the vote of no confidence passed on Dr.
Demuren by the House of Representatives committee on aviation recently. It will
be unfortunate if the Federal Government bowed to pressure from a group of
political contractors and aviation illiterates parading themselves as legislators
whose past time these days is blaming everyone else for Nigeria’s problems
except themselves.
Many blamed the
Demuren led NCAA after the Dana airline crash but the Ogun-state born
technocrat and his agency were duly exonerated by the committee led by renowned aviation expert, Group Captain
Obakpolor, who was appointed by the Aviation Minister, Mrs Stella Oduah.
There is no doubt that Dr. Demuren revamped, repositioned and restored confidence in domestic air travel in Nigeria. After his appointment, he immediately took on the challenge of reforming the Nigerian Aviation sector and restoring the lost confidence to the Industry, drawing up a strategic short, medium and long term plan anchored on Safety, Security and Satisfaction (consumer) in that order of priority. Dr. Demuren introduced a safety reform Agenda which enthroned professionalism, integrity and transparency in the conduct of Aviation business.
Demuren will remain one of
the best DGs in NCAA’s history. He is competent and well experienced in the
field. About a year ago, He was going to step aside honorably after his first
tenure, but was reappointed to carry on.
Demuren was a silent achiever who knows his onions. He would be surely
missed by those who have the nation’s aviation sector’s interest at heart. I
want to use this opportunity to sincerely thank Dr. Demuren for his selfless
service to this nation, and I wish him successes in his future endeavours.
