Aviation group canvasses scrapping of aviation ministry

AVIATION Round Table (ART) has called on the Federal Government to scrap the Ministry of Aviation, while the Ministry of Transport should be made to supervise the various transportation sectors.Speaking to journalists at the press briefing, the Chairman of Aviation Round Table (ART), Captain Dele Ore, said the Ministry of Transport should be in chargewith specialists in the various segments of the transportation, including aviation.Theaviation expertssaid they believe that having an aviation ministry is a duplication of the functions of the Ministry of Transportation, which is supposed to oversee road, air and water transportation.According to Ore, 'it was a realisation of the correct thing to do that led to the merger of two ministries of aviation and transport in 2007, alongside the ministries of information and communication. Moreover, there is no basis for merging the agencies that were demerged in the recommendation of Vision 2010 Report and the Aviation Report of 2006.'Ore also contended that aviation is an international business with lay down standards and recommended practices by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).He said the ECOWAS parliament in 2000 recommended that ECOWAS member states should not appoint ministers to preside over aviation ministry rather a minister in charge of transportation should be in charge with specialists overseeing the various sectors in the transportation business viz land, air and water transportation.While praising the current leadership of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) headed by Dr. Harold Demuren, he believes that emphasis should not be only on safety, which is the current obsession of the present leadership.He said that there is need to pay more attention to economic regulation of the sector.Ore also recommended the complete privatisation of the airports in the country rather than remodeling of the existing ones.The Secretary General of Aviation Round Table said the group feels strongly on the issue of manpower in the industry.As recently as 1999, we have nearly 100 per cent indigenisation of manpower on that sector. We therefore encourage government to aggressively restore the healthy trend of indigenisation.He said local aviation institutions should be encouraged by trying to train more personal, services providers and airlines that are interested in training pilots and engineers and have challenges of obtaining visas from the embassies.The experts group called Federal Ministry of Aviation (FMA) should intervene to encourage training of personnel by local airlines.
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