The End of the Aviation Special Adviser Role?

From the inception of the Third Republic Democratic governance in 1999, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there was the creation of an office known as Special Adviser to the President on Aviation. The occupant of that office was an aircraft pilot, Captain Shehu Iyal.

He operated in that capacity as Special Adviser to the President on Aviation from the President Obasanjo regime to President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan.

This has since changed since the advent of the All Progressives Congress administration at the centre, i.e., from President Mohammed Buhari to the current President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We now have a full-fledged Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development in the person of Barrister Festus Keyamo, SAN. Who now combines both the policy and advisory functions for the presidency?

The current minister, Festus Keyamo, demonstrated from the outset that Nigeria may not need the special adviser office any more with the release of his five-point agenda:

Safety compliance: Ensuring strict adherence to global safety regulations to continuously improve and elevate Nigeria’s safety rating by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Support for local operators: Nurturing the growth and sustainability of indigenous airline businesses while holding them to the highest international industry standards.

Infrastructure revitalisation: Upgrading, modernising, and expanding aviation infrastructure, including airport terminals and air traffic management.

Human capacity development: Investing in the local workforce through targeted professional training and the advancement of aviation education.

Optimising revenue generation: Maximising income for the Federal Government through innovative revenue initiatives and strategic partnerships.

Before now, no one ever had an idea of the job schedule of the past regimes’ special adviser on aviation, other than superintending hajj operations that left much to be desired.

The reason is not far-fetched; the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority offers the aviation oversight for the Federal Government, as all the aircraft in the fleet of the presidency are all in its register. This means that the presidency subjects its aircraft to the oversight roles of the NCAA. While the ministry formulates policies for the industry.

However, in that era of a special adviser on aviation, Hajj operations, which were and are still a strict mandate of the National Hajj Commission, witnessed a situation where the adviser called the shots. Appropriate agencies are normally invited to render appropriate services at their cost for a safe and hitch-free exercise year in and year out.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is always on hand to offer safety oversight roles in respect of the selected airlines and the aircraft to be deployed for the exercise. This service involves sending its staff outside the country or countries for the inspection of aircraft to be used for the hajj. This is to ensure that only airworthy aircraft are used to ferry Nigerian pilgrims to and from Jeddah.

There are other agencies, such as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, and the handling companies, which are also involved.

It is pertinent to point out that the intending pilgrims are surcharged and paid for their trips yearly. The affected agencies, in turn, sponsored their staffers on trips for the required services. Midway into the exercise, a circular on waivers is served on the agencies to waive their charges to the Hajj commission.

There has never been a record of reimbursement to the pilgrims who have originally been surcharged and paid for those services rendered by these aviation agencies.

That waiver of statutory fees era has since gone on the assumption of office by the current Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, and the absence of a Special Adviser to the President on Aviation. He has so far acquitted himself on all fronts successfully to the delight of stakeholders, in my take.

Do not get me wrong; I am not condemning the special adviser’s office. After all, Abike Dabiri-Erewa has been doing Nigeria and Nigerians proud as a Special Adviser on Diaspora. We have also had a Minister of Interior, Mr Tunji Ojo, who has since changed the concept of the minister as the one whose main preoccupation is to announce public holidays. We now get an international passport without developing high blood pressure as we used to. We now have in the Federal Capital Territory a minister opening up everywhere. Not one did over the years before him. You may not like the person of Barrister Nyesom Wike. But you can fault his strides in Abuja. Coming to aviation, foreign airlines were supported over and above our operators in the past. That has changed under Keyamo’s watch. As Dr Harold Demuren would say, you cannot be wrong supporting your own.