Jonathan sacks Harold Demuren, NCAA boss

The Federal Government on Monday night sacked Dr. Harold Demuren, the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.
The removal of the boss of the highest regulatory agency in the Nigeria Aviation industry was announced in a statement from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.
“His Excellency, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has approved the removal of Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren from Office as the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) with effect from 12th March 2013.
“This is consequent to a careful consideration of Dr. Demuren’s unsatisfactory response to the numerous concerns of stakeholders in the aviation sector. Mr. President wishes him well in his future endeavours,”the statement read.
There have been calls for the removal of Demurin over the Dana plane crash of 3 June, 2012 which resulted in a loss of over 150 lives.
A Committee set up by the House of Representatives to probe the plane crash had in its report submitted in December 2012 claimed the crash was as a result of failure of regulatory oversight by the NCAA and called for the dismissal of Demuren from service.
The legislators also said the NCAA boss should be prosecuted for criminal negligence.
Demuren was appointed the DG of NCAA in 2005 and before the DANA crash was particularly praised by stakeholders in the sector for his ability to make the country’s aviation sector accident free for his first five years in office.
Ironically, his appointment came at a time the nation’s aviation sector was undergoing great stress with two devastating plane crashes in quick succession, that claimed over 250 lives- Bellview Airline crash in Lisa village, Ogun State and Sosoliso Airline plane crash in Port- Harcourt, Rivers State.
On his appointment,Demuren proceeded to implement a series of reforms geared at repositioning the sector including and engender confidence in the travelling public.
These include economic and safety audit on the airlines,making Nigeria become a signatory to the Cape Town Convention which made the acquisition of newer aircraft possible for operators among others.
No doubt, the biggest achievement of Demurin was helping Nigeria to get the Category One status of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
This gave Nigerian designated carriers opportunity to operate their own airplane to the US and vice versa.
The former NCAA DG who was on his second tenure of office before he was sacked on Monday also made history as the first African to be elected President, International Civil Aviation Organisation General Assembly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PDP Suspends Governor Amaechi

Image
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) today suspended Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi after an emergency meeting of the party National Working Committee. A statement issued by the party states that the suspension Mr. Amaechi was aimed at enforcing discipline within the party. Mr. Amaechi last week defeated a candidate propped up  by President Goodluck Jonathan during an election to pick the chairman of Nigerian governors's forum.  See text of the party's statement after the cut:
Read more

Photo:One Body, Two Souls: A Day In a Life of Conjoined Twins

Image
  Abby and Brittany Hensel are conjoined twins determined to live the normal, active life of outgoing 20-somethings anywhere. They have been to university, they travel, they have jobs. But how easy is it for two people to inhabit one body?     The identical, conjoined twins from Minnesota, in the United States, have graduated from Bethel University and are setting out on their career as primary school teachers with an emphasis on maths. Although they have two teaching licences, there is one practical difference when it comes to the finances. "Obviously right away we understand that we are going to get one salary because we're doing the job of one person," says Abby.
Read more

Yinka Ayefele – “If you think I’m impotent, bring your sister”

Image
Many people still don’t believe that Gospel musician Yinka Ayefele, who had a fatal accident years back, can perform the duty of a husband in terms of procreation. But the Ibadan based singer shocked many people, when he got married and started raring children. Yinka said, “Doctors would tell you that my case is very special and rare; my case is one of a thousand cases. There are some things I may not want to say here but... "I challenge those who still don’t believe me that I can perform to come with their sisters to prove the point. What I am trying to say is that I’m fortunate to have proved the medical practitioner wrong in some aspects. They say I wouldn’t be able to have erection but the day they discovered I was able to have it was like a miracle; in fact, my consultant was shocked, I thank God for this.” So all you doubting Thomas, hope you know better now?
Read more