Aviation Shake-Up: Tinubu Sacks Heads Of FAAN, NAMA, Others

BY EDMOND ODOK – With the Yuletide fast approaching, many stakeholders did not see it coming so suddenly. But surprisingly, President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday wielded the big stick against Heads of agencies under the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development.

In Mr President’s approval of the suspension, removal, and replacement of the affected Chief Executive Officers, the casualties include the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mr. Kabir Yusuf Mohammed, who has already been replaced by Mrs. Olubunmi Oluwaseun Kuku as the substantive Managing Director of the Authority.

Similarly, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr Tayib Adetunji Odunowo, is now in the job market after being replaced by Engineer Umar Ahmed Farouk as NAMA’s substantive Managing Director.

Conveying the development in a press statement, Special Adviser to President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale said the sack is in tandem with the administration’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’, which is to bring world-class standards to Nigerian Civil Aviation in consumer protection and the promotion of the well-being of Nigerian passengers and the high cost of underperformance in the sector.

The statement reads in part; “The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Kabir Yusuf Mohammed, has been removed from office and replaced with Mrs. Olubunmi Oluwaseun Kuku as the substantive Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

“Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr. Tayib Adetunji Odunowo, has been removed from office and replaced with Engr. Umar Ahmed Farouk is the substantive Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.“

Also affected in this massive Aviation sector clean-up is the Director-General of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Engineer Akinola Olateru whose office has been taken over by Mr. Alex Badeh Jr. as the substantive Director-General.

In the same manner, the Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET), Professor Mansur Bako Matazu has been replaced by Professor Charles Anosike as the substantive Director-General of the Agency.

Not spared the Presidential hammer is the Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Capt. Alkali Mahmud Modibbo who lost out to Mr. Joseph Shaka Imalighwe as the Acting Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), pending the appointment of a substantive Rector, by Section 13(2) of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology Act, 2022