The Chairman of the Widescope Group, Dr. Segun Musa has accused the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo of engaging in activities that tend to prioritize the private sector over the public or national interest even as he alleged that the Minister was doing more of marketing functions for the private sector and neglecting the national interest.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos recently, Musa maintained that he had seen the Minister canvassing as well as advertising and promoting private businesses as if he was paid to do it rather than the national service which he was saddled with.
According to him, when you see somebody that superintends over that critical sector talking about the government not being interested in investing in national fleet, the first thing that would come to mind was that the person didn’t not know why he was in the office.
“The first thing you do when you superintend over a critical sector such as aviation is to find out what the national interest is in that Sector. Private sector promotion or advancement should not conflict with the national interest. What makes most countries, especially in this global neighborhood now to gain recognition and respect is the national fleet that they have, not outsourcing your national business to a private business.
“When you have your own national fleet that you can call your pride, I remember in the days of the Nigerian Airways, some of us that were privileged to have flown in the Nigerian Airways, anytime that we want to board the flight, we enjoyed some privilege such that when other nationals want to board the flight, we have that opportunity to be the first to be considered. And that is what every country that has a national fleet do today. They will rather drop other nationals for a national to be onboard.
“There’s a lot of opportunities, pride and privilege that you gain when you board your national fleet that is flying. So, the guy doesn’t know why he was appointed or saddled with that appointment. He thought that when you have Air Peace, Aero Contractor, Arik Air flying, then, you can be regarded as an aviation country. No! You must have your indigenous fleet.
“So, I have listened to the guy talk and oftentimes, I am disappointed. The way he talks and relegate and downgrade national interest in most of his engagements, it is not enough for you to know how to speak good English but for you to speak technically as a responsibility and as a public office holder that believes in promoting national interest.
“So, the guy does not actually know his onion very well and he’s not ready to learn. I can liken him to one of my friends who was saddled in the past with this responsibility, the one I chose to call Minister of Railway. He was actually the Minister of Transport but I call him Minister of Railway because he gave more attention to the railway probably because of what he benefited from railway.
“(Rotimi) Amaechi, I call him Minister of Railway, he is not quite different from this Minister of Aviation, Keyamo because they will learn something today and tomorrow, when they are giving a keynote address or he speaking somewhere, what somebody has said today is what they are going to say there and you even assume that he understands what he is saying but they don’t”, he said.
He however, advised government at all levels not to appoint people who are not experts in a particular industry, no matter how smart they were, to oversee the affairs of the industry, as such an act could cause colossal damage to the industry in question.
“They will get to a point that they will be confused and when somebody that superintends over a highly technical sector is confused, he can cause a lot of damage. And that’s exactly what we are facing now.
“Aviation, normally, we know, is capital intensive and for people patronizing aviation, they know it is a premium corridor. Notwithstanding, we must also work to ensure that we don’t put up too many charges, levies and taxes on aviation because by the time it’s no longer friendly, people that have aircrafts will not be able to fly it again because it is capital intensive to maintain and manage an aircraft. We should be able to look at how we should give them (operators) a soft landing to ensure that we don’t allow them to cut corners. You can’t continue to increase charges, taxes and levies on aviation.
“If railways had been functional, you would hardly see people patronizing the airports because it’s not as if flying in an aircraft is pleasurable but because it saves time and the roads are very difficult to use and that’s why a lot of people are actually using the aviation.
“And now, aviation is no longer friendly because it’s capital intensive. A flight ticket from Lagos to Abuja, most times is more than the cost that we used for international flights before.
“So, the Minister should look inwards, he should not think about himself, that since himself as a minister can afford it, then everyone else can afford it. The Minister should look at what should be convenient for the general public. Yes, we know it’s a premium corridor, notwithstanding, it is the duty of the Minister to ensure that the taxes, the charges and the levies are minimal so that people will not continue to increase airfare unreasonably”, he suggested.
Photo: Dr. Segun Musa, Chairman, Widescope Group.
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