Expert accuses Sirika of irregular employments in aviation, calls for review

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo has been called upon to review the appointments made by his predecessor, Sen. Hadi Sirika in the last two years.

The former minister was also accused of engaging at least 6,000 personnel in the last eight years, many of whom allegedly did not meet the minimal requirements.

Comrade Olayinka Abioye, the immediate past General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) stated this on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, in an open letter addressed to Keyamo and obtained by Nairametrics.

2,000 employees in two years

According to Abioye, Keyamo needed to review appointments made in the past 24 months, stressing that the former minister went ahead with their appointments despite the opposition from the industry unions.

According to him, no fewer than 2,000 such appointments were made within the period.

Abioye insisted that many of those engaged did not follow the due process and lacked industry-recommended practices.

He said:

“I shall not advocate for the removal or dismissal from their employment, but all such appointments/recruitments and or employments that did not follow due process with recommended standards as contained in the various Conditions of Service (CoS) of our agencies must be dealt with accordingly.
“Such appointments/recruitments and employments be regularized in such a holistic manner that those who are not qualified for their current positions be relieved and placed in their proper and normal positions.”

6,000 engaged in 8yrs

Abioye also alleged that the former minister engaged at least 6,000 personnel in various agencies between 2015 and 2023 and was rewarded with numerous positions.

He purported that many of those engaged were not qualified for the positions they were given, but were lorded over the chief executive officers in the agencies and the career civil servants.

He said this had led to the non-elevation of career civil servants in most of the agencies.

“But such individual career growth has been stunted by the unwholesome appointments made by your predecessor.
“Our Industry is most especially technically based and having many non-technical and professional personnel in their places creates a great lacuna, which must be reviewed and necessary corrections made immediately as you will be doing the nation’s aviation sector a great favour,” he added.

NATCA earlier outcry

The Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) had last week lamented the recent lopsided recruitments in the aviation agencies, especially at the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), saying it negated the Act of setting up the agency.

NATCA, which is the parent body of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs), said that while there is a dearth of requisite technical manpower and inadequate human capital development in NAMA, insisted that the type of manpower being recruited into the agency was completely at variance with the real needs of the agency.

The President of NATCA, Mr. Abayomi Agoro, stated that the recruitment was at loggerheads with the agency as an Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP).

Agoro had challenged the management of NAMA to do a holistic evaluation of the staff strength of the agency on a departmental or directorate basis in line with the core mandate of the agency as well as the standard template accepted by the Civil Air Navigation Service Organisation (CANSO) and industry best practice.

He added: “The systematic migration from core mandates of agency and proliferation of departments and directorates that have no bearing in the aviation and aerospace system is of utmost concern to all well-meaning watchers of events in the industry.
“Our association has observed with alarm the proliferation and establishment of departments and directorates that have no direct or incidental bearing to the core mandates of the agencies in the sector, but rather add to the overhead costs of the affected agencies and further promote inefficiency, most especially, NAMA.
We are sure as a legal mind you will agree with us that there are departments and/or directorates that have not been provided for or intended by the provisions in the NAMA Establishment Act 22 of 2022 (as amended).”

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