Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muktar Usman, will on October end his five years tenure in office.
The NCAA boss was the chief executive of the civil aviation regulatory body, and Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) before his appointment in 2014.
The Civil Aviation Act permits his tenure to be renewed for another five years, but it has not been conventional for an NCAA boss to get a second tenure. Some past DGs even served for less than a term.
Some of the odds against the renewal of the current DG include a running battle with workers over welfare issues. The aviation unions had over the time picketed NCAA over poor welfare issues during the tenure of the DG; and had always saying: “We don’t want him to come back”.
Staff members have not been happy with the welfare package, the package was said not encouraging under his tenure.
Information made known that aviation customer service performed so poor as customers are left at the mercy of operators without much intervention by NCAA.
However, NCAA has recorded significant milestones under Usman. The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos were certified for the first time under him. There has been no major air crash and the Nigerian aviation industry has retained International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) aviation safety records and certification, suggesting that the Nigerian aviation industry is very safe and secured.
Among the contenders for the post along Capt. Usman are Capt. Musa Nuhu who was recently elected Chairperson of the Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa and Indian Ocean (AFI Plan), Steering Committee in Montreal, Canada. Nuhu and Engr. Akin Olateru considered for the job due to his excellence performers.
Olateru was said to have brought vibrancy and refreshing style to air accident investigation in Nigeria, and in less than three years, has closed several aircraft accident reports that have stalled for years. Among others are Engr. Gbolahan Abatan, the President/CEO of AirFirst Maintenance and Engineering Ltd. and Engr. Ben Tukur, a safety inspector at NCAA and also a Technical Assistant to the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika.
Many of the captains of this agency look forward to
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