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.
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