Stakeholders in the sector insisted that the appointments of the duo did not require additional confirmation by the president, as they were never in acting capacities, and accused Mr. Sirika of arm-twisting Mr. Buhari for the approval.
Nigerian aviation industry players have condemned President Muhammadu Buhari’s reconfirmation of Saleh Dunoma as Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Muhtar Usman as Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), attributing the duo’s confirmations to fraud and deception.
Mr. Dunoma’s four-year tenure was slated to expire in February 2018, but with his new confirmation, allegedly stage-managed by Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika, his four-year term has just begun. It would be recalled that Mr. Dunoma was appointed to his post on February 4, 2014.
Mr. Usman, who is tenured for five years according to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation (NCAR) Act of 2006, was nominated in 2014 and confirmed by the Senate about four months later. Like Mr. Dunoma, he was again confirmed by Mr. Buhari last week.
Stakeholders in the sector insisted that the appointments of the duo did not require additional confirmation by the president, as they were never in acting capacities, and accused Mr. Sirika of arm-twisting Mr. Buhari for the approval.
A management staff’s source in FAAN alleged that Mr. Dunoma and Mr. Usman are “foot soldiers” for the aviation minister, claiming that the three have worked on “several secret projects” together.
The source wondered why Mr. Dunoma, who was confirmed as Managing Director of the FAAN even before he assumed office by former President Goodluck Jonathan, was reconfirmed as the helmsman of the same agency when he is yet to run out his tenure.
The source alleged that Mr. Buhari was deceived by Mr. Sirika to believe that the two helmsmen were in acting capacities, which was not true.
When the federal government sacked all chief executive officers of aviation agencies this January, only Mr. Dunoma and Mr. Usman were retained by the government.
The CEOs sacked in January were the acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Emma Anasi, Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Anthony Anuforom, Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Samuel Caulcrick, and Commissioner of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Felix Abali.
Mr. Dunoma joined the FAAN in 1980, serving as Director of Projects under former aviation minister Stella Oduah during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
His department was responsible for most of the contracts awarded in the sector under Mrs. Oduah.
Within the same period, Mr. Sirika, as a member of the Senate Committee on Aviation, was awarded the contract for upgrading the Katsina Airport by Mrs. Oduah, which still has some unanswered questions surrounding it. He worked closely with Mr. Dunoma during this period.
An aviation source told our correspondent, “The reconfirmation of Dunoma is a reward for him by the minister [Sirika]. Sirika has taken grip of FAAN and NCAA and he’s the one dictating events in the two agencies.
“It is unheard of that an appointment, which is ongoing and has been confirmed by a government, is now being reconfirmed by another government when the tenure has not expired. Since he came on-board in 2014, he was never in acting capacity and his tenure is set to expire in February 2018.
“But with this deceptive confirmation now, it simply means his four-year term has just begun in FAAN while that of Usman is having his five-year term afresh. Buhari has been deceived, but I expect aviation stakeholders and professionals to speak up on this issue, rather than murmuring,” he said.
On his part, Mr. Usman, who has always been a civil servant, was moved from the AIB as its Commissioner to the NCAA as Director-General.
He reached the mandatory age of 60 years for all civil servants last December, but still keeps his position, claiming that he’s on appointment.
It would be recalled that Mr. Buhari had last Thursday re-confirmed Mr. Dunoma, Mr. Usman and the Managing Director of NAMA, Fola Akinkuotu, in a statement.
