Former
Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday, took up the incumbent, Stella
Oduah, describing her as being unnecessarily petty in the handling of issues
relating to the industry.
Fani-Kayode,
who was responding to remarks made by Oduah against him, said that the
incumbent Aviation minister and not him was the one who should bury her head in
shame over the shambolic handling of the industry since her appointment.
Oduah
had yesterday in Abuja dismissed Mr. Fani-Kayode over his ignorance, adding
that his comments on the aviation sector conveyed the impression that he was
under an unnatural influence.
She
spoke in response to a reporter’s question during the opening ceremony of the
African Regional
Conference of Civil Aviation Navigation Organisation, CANSO,
in Abuja.
She
further stated that working with CANSO over the years had been fulfilling and
enriching.
Said
she: “The nation has had its fair share of challenges in the aviation sector
but has adopted an attitude of refusing to relent in moving forward as a key
strategy for improvement in the sector.”
According
to her: “Aviation which is one of the drivers of the economy has ensured that
we achieve double digit economic growth.”
However,
Fani- Kayode said that the remarks by the minister against him were uncalled
for, malicious and petty.
“She
reportedly said that I should bow my head in shame, suggested that I was
“speaking out of context’’ in my essay where I called for her resignation and
that I spoke under some “influence of something or other.”
His
words: “My advice and counsel to her is to grow up and stop being petty. She is
meant to talk like someone who befits her office and not like a market woman.
“I
do not like joining issues with women publicly which is why I was very gentle
with her in my essay though I made my point. But this particular woman is
endangering the lives of our people with her incompetence and insensitivity and
we cannot just keep quiet.
“This
is a woman under whose watch almost 200 people have been killed as Aviation
Minister and instead of focusing on how to save lives her obsession has become
smearing and abusing Femi Fani-Kayode.
“This
is a woman who only yesterday told Nigerians that ‘accidents are inevitable’
and that they were ‘acts of God.’ This is a woman who thinks more about how her
headscarf looks, her jewellery and the jewellery of others more than she does
about protecting Nigerian air travellers.
“If
anyone should bury her head in shame it is her and not me. After just under 200
of our fellow citizens have been killed under her watch instead of abusing her
critics and those of us that have expressed our concern and offered our advise
she should be seeking repentance from God and tendering her resignation.
“She
should be attempting to encourage the Nigerian people and assuage their fears
rather than indulging in petty and cheap sideshots and a futile press war.
“Instead
of comforting the families of those that were lost she is opening her mouth and
abusing me. What a shame. Under her tenure we have beautiful terminals but
deadly and blood-soaked skies. Our skies have become a death trap because she
really doesn’t care.
“My
advice to her is to shut up, get serious and focus on doing her job rather than
attempting to smear me with her filthy lies and malicious innuendos.
“I
raised some serious issues in that essay that was clearly above her education
level and I avoided personal insults.
“That
is what civilised people do. She should learn from that and address the issues
that were raised rather than spend her time trying to kill the messenger. When
someone says that God is the author of fatal crashes you know that it is not
the same God that we worship as that person.
“It
is the devil that causes accidents and kills people and not God. You can say
that a fatal accident is an act of God only if the devil is your god.
“When
I speak and write I am under the influence of one thing and one thing alone-
the Spirit of the Living God who sees through her and who knows her for what
she is.
“She
is the one that is under the influence of one thing or the other and not me.
She is the one whose hands are filled with blood. She is the one that must bury
her head in shame and no-one else. I will pray for her because she needs it and
I will pray for Nigeria too. May God deliver us from these people,” Fani-Kayode
added.
Earlier,
the Aviation Minister, Mrs Stella Oduah had stated that the transformation
agenda of the present administration was anchored on a road map for the
aviation industry.
Said
she: “The thrust of this road map is safety, safety and security.”
She
further said that an important aspect of the strategy for developing the
nation’s aviation sector is infrastructural development.”
According
to her, the Federal Government through the Nigeria Air Space Management Agency,
NAMA, had embarked on the re-organisation of the sector.
She
cited the execution of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria, TRACON, project
under NAMA as one of the achievements of the present administration.
“The
completion of the project has resulted in other benefits like radio coverage of
the nation’s airspace. NAMA has put all these in place with the assistance of
the Federal Government.”
She,
however, said that her ministry would continue to partner with the nation’s
political leadership to achieve its goals.
In
his own speech at the occasion, the Managing Director of NAMA, Nnamdi Udo
showered praises on the Federal Government for transforming the nation’s air
traffic navigation services, adding that given the technology Nigeria had put
in place, the nation had keyed into the role of making aviation in the Africa
region a seamless process.
In
his own remarks on the occasion, CANSO Director-General Mr Jeff Poole outlined
the organisation’s vision to improve aviation safety and achieve seamless
airspace across Africa.
Source: Vanguard
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