Appoint Technocrat As Aviation Minister, Experts Urge Jonathan

Aviation experts have appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to avoid the mistakes of the past by appointing a technocrat as minister of Aviation.
The immediate past Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah and three others were last week relieved of their job.
The experts under the aegis of Aviation Round Table (ART), Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), took the position yesterday after an emergency meeting of the groups.
Speaking to reporters in Lagos, AON chairman, Captain Noggie Meggison traced the problems of the sector to the appointment of people who have no business in the industry which he described as sensitive.
The airline chief said it would take a non-professional over a year to learn the terms and the entire industry gamut, stressing that the sector could no longer allow such long period of learning.
He regretted that the industry lost over 200 lives in a space of three years to accidents he noted could have been prevented.
Also, President of National Association of Airline Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Isaac Balami stated that it was right to ‘put a round peg in a round hole’; a situation he said would help the sector to grow.