The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has passed a vote of confidence in the acting director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Chris Najomo and appealed to President Bola Tinubu to confirm his appointment as the substantive head of the aviation regulatory body.
The vice president of the association, Mr Allen Onyema and the spokesman for the airlines’ body, Mr Obiora Okonkwo made the commendation while speaking separately at the International Air Transport Conference held recently.
The duo applauded Najomo for the transformation he brought to the NCAA since his appointment in 2023.
They described Najomo’s achievements in the last one year as “the best that ever happened in the industry” thereby making the NCAA “one of the best in the world.”
Besides, they said the coming on board of Najomo “has revolutionised the sector as it has ensured safety of aircraft and guaranteed passengers’ right. “
“This is a man who has come into the industry; he is not a novice at all. This is one of Nigeria’s finest pilots ever created under the sun, quote me, captain Chris Najomo is one of the most proficient pilots under the sun not just Nigeria. He has paid his dues.
“Not only that, he has also paid his dues in airline management, don’t forget that he was once the Managing Director of an airline. So he knows the pains of the operators. On the other side too you need to go to NCAA. When you go to the NCAA today, the people are full of smiles because of Najomo. This is the kind of thing nobody should pray to lose. If we take it for granted we will get our fingers burnt.
“The AON, which I am a leader, is affirming that the regime of Najomo has brought the ease of doing business to the fore and we are all enjoying it in the aviation industry today.
“Captain Najomo has zero tolerance for anything unsafe. When he is talking about the ease of doing business in aviation he is not talking about allowing us to go scot-free with blue murder. This post-arrival inspection, when you bring aircraft into the country, when they come and they inspect it and it didn’t meet regulatory requirements they sent those aircraft back, he has done that.”
“So what he is trying to do is to make sure Nigeria does not lose so much money so he has made inspections of aircraft seamless for us and saved us a humongous sum of money.
“What he has done has saved Nigeria a lot of money that could have been expended on estacodes, air travels, and a lot of time wasting. Before the inspection of aircraft into the country might take over a month; it is a matter of three days now as long as you and your lessors have agreed and made your payment.
“Sometime there are appointments that are round pegs in a round hole. The problem sometimes is not about the regulations; the problem could be who is implementing the regulations. Someone might be in that office and proposing laws out of his own sentiments but it is a different thing when you have somebody who is an all rounder in the industry,” Onyema said.
For his part, Okonkwo described Najomo a “blessing to the aviation industry.”
During his citation, he was called Jolly Papa. That was then but today I seek your indulgence to re-baptise him as Aviation Papa.”
“He is a successful pilot. All over the world before you see somebody with 10, 000 hours of flight time is rare. So, already he is a legend in the flying world; doing twenty something thousand is very rare. That means he probably spent his whole life flying.
“Aside that for us as airline operators, we do find some push back and résistance in the industry because some people who call themselves captains think that everything about aviation should revolve around them. Yet they have not done anything to improve their knowledge beyond flying and have not have a practical experience to even be part of management of aviation to understand other things that are involve beyond the cockpit experience.
“Unlike Captain Najomo he has done all those and more; he has also been an operator, a manager of business. So a combination of all these things has given us the best aviation regulatory agency in the world,” he said.
Okonkwo added: “I can attest to that. Recently I had an encounter with them, I called him around 12 midnight and he was in Turkey; that should be about 2am in Turkey. I said I have a machine that I must bring into Nigeria. I needed a document for a landing for a chartered flight. In less than one hour he sent me the landing permit. I could not believe it.
“What he stopped actually is not anything that threatens safety and procedures but what he battled with is the bureaucracy in government. On the side of the operators, we meet all our requirements. He is not somebody who will compromise with the issue of safety. I can attest to it that something we thought we should do in three months, I have done in one week.”
However, he said he was worried how Nigeria’s aviation industry would be after Najomo serves out his tenure after confirmation.
“My worry is not how long he will be because he has to be here, confirmed and even stay as long as his tenure permits but my fear is what we will do without papa aviation when his tenure expires. So when you talk about regulatory bottleneck in Nigeria, it is already a thing of the past for us with him on the seat, the only thing I want to say is for our nation to look at other aspect of our regulations that are not within NCAA purview to see how we can make Nigeria an aviation hub.”
