About 21 senior officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria were on Wednesday sacked in a major shake-up.

Those affected, including directors, general managers and deputy general managers, were reportedly handed their termination of appointment letters.

Sources at the head office of FAAN in Lagos told our correspondent that no fewer than 10 general managers were reportedly demoted. They were said to have earlier been improperly promoted.

It was learnt from an official of the Ministry of Aviation that the sacking was the first batch of the shake-up planned by the government to reposition FAAN.

Stakeholders said the Federal Government had been concerned about certain issues at FAAN such as the engagement of about 40 general managers, the creation of many directorates that brought about duplication of duties and raised the authority’s monthly overhead to an estimated N800m.

Sources said the government planned to reduce the number of workers by way of restructuring in order to cushion the effects of the current economic crisis.

Some of the general managers were said not to have the requisite qualifications for the sensitive positions they held, as many of them, including deputy general managers, had reportedly left the university about 10 years ago and could not have qualified for the office they held.

Almost all the directors were said to have been affected, while an acting director of finance was said to have been demoted to Grade Level 10 and redeployed to the Department of Information Communications and Technology.

Many of the affected officers were moved from Grade Levels 17 and 16 down to 10, 12 and 14.

Some of the demoted workers were said to have received their letters, authorising them to report to their superiors, who were their subordinates before the exercise.

Meanwhile, new directors of finance and accounts, as well as commercial and business development, have been appointed.

The Federal Government is also reportedly planning to reduce the number of directorates in the aviation agencies as part of the restructuring exercise.

This, it was learnt, would affect the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.

The restructuring at the airports is said to be the fallout of a panel’s report headed by the Head of Service, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, which recommended the need for a proper placement in FAAN.

The NAMA may get a new managing director before December as its acting Managing Director, Emmanuel Anasi, is expected to proceed on terminal leave by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has said it will hold a public hearing with stakeholders to discuss the proposed concession of some airport terminals by the Federal Government.

The Chairman of the committee, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, stated this in Lagos during the oversight visit by the committee members to the aviation agencies on Wednesday.

He said the public hearing would give stakeholders the opportunity to make their input.

Onyejeocha said, “I do not believe in the concession of the four major airports that we have because I know those four airports are funding the other 18 international airports. And of course, you have to look at the issue of workers and the Nigerian people as a whole.

“We are going to conduct a public hearing where we will take all the issues together; where we will be able to ask Nigerians and of course the key players in the aviation industry, including the workers, and even journalists, to tell us what they think.”

The 18-member delegation said it was in Lagos to see how the sector was faring amid the current economic recession.

Onyejeocha expressed disappointment at the slow pace of work at the new international terminal being constructed by the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company.

According to her, with the current pace of work, the project may not be delivered by December as projected.

“We have three other terminals that we are hopeful will be delivered by December; so what it simply means is that Lagos is lagging behind and we will take it seriously,” she said.

The committee also visited the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, where the regulatory body was asked to do everything necessary to keep domestic carriers in business.

Blue3k:
Hopefully this well improve Nigeria's abysmal Airports. 80 percent of Airport have no jet bridges. Waiting areas are tiny. Our politicians travel all over world but hardly comeback inspired.

FakoMaybach1:

true my brother...if you see singapore or malaysia's airport you go agree say ours na glorified ABC bus-park
But the sacking and reshuffling of FAAN how will it improve operations cus to me it seems its just a political compensation drive

FakoMaybach1:
i am here to check names...bring out a list lets see who and who are affected...i wont bring up any conpiracy theory that it will be mostly south-easterners and south westerners

i know promotions in the civil service is badly skewed, but Buhari has not done enough to convince me that his clean-up does not have ethnic, religious or political bias

I WANT TO CHECK NAMES

A member of the committee, Garba
Mohammed Gololo from Bauchi made the
appeal to Usman on behalf of other
committee members, suggesting that their
inclusion would enable them to know the
nitty-gritty of the industry. Gololo was one
of the house of reps members accusing of
soliciting for sex during a visit to the US.

Immediately he dropped the microphone, a
colleague of his in the committee, Victor
Nwokolo, provided support, saying that at
least two members of the committee should
be selected in the first phase of the training.

At the Nigerian Airspace Management
Agency (NAMA), Ms. Onyejeocha also
implored the management of the agency to
incorporate some of its members in training
in order to further improve their knowledge
of the industry.

Pidggin:
More job losses in a dying economy, smh

Progressive01:
Talking about issues surrounding members of the house committee on aviation and their oversight of the ministry's parastatals:
Now you see this. When these thieving bandits wanna get their scruffy fingers into the cookie jar, they do so with absolutely no care for their ethnic, regional or religious identities- their unity is NEVER in doubt!

But when it comes to choosing our leaders, they waste no time in reminding us how Usman should never be seen on the same planet with Emeka or how a Christian is seen by all Muslims as arne for which reason we must never have anything to do with them, or how the Northerners want all Southerners dead and vice versa!!

This is the reason my signature says what it says. There are some people particularly fond of doing this in this country. Everything that happens to any one of them, they claim is for reason of their tribe!!

One of theirs is questioned for tax evasion, they claim it is because of her tribe.

The other is sacked and replaced just as every other person, they claim it was because of her tribe.

One was being tried in court just like his boss, he dons their native attire to appeal to their emotions, they fell flat for it and claimed he was being tried because of his tribe!!!

Couple of days ago, someone was arrested for taking bribes and having huge amounts of cash in hard currency at home and they claimed he was arrested because he granted judgement in favour of their tribe!!

Etc.

May the curse of a thousand years befall all those who keep taking advantage of our religious or ethnic diversity to promote their selfish political ideologies.

The system MUST be cleansed lest it consumes us all.