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Of Performance bond and CEOs’ call to service

The atmosphere inside the conference hall of Frazer Hotels Abuja was that of joy for many of the newly appointed Chief Executive Officers of all the aviation agencies and their directors.

Many of them exuded confidence to confront the challenges ahead of their tasks and to help the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo to achieve his five-point agenda for the aviation sector which improvement had been slow despite some pockets of achievements recorded in the past.

NCAA Acting DG, Capt Chris Najomo in a handshake with Keyamo while the Perm Sec., Dr. Emmanuel Meribole looks on

Coming as the first of its kind in the aviation sector and as a way of extracting a commitment from his lieutenants-that is, the people whose bulk of the work lay in their hands, it shows that the Minister and by extension, President Bola Ahmed is in a hurry to improve the sector’s performance and should be commended for this.

While commending the Minister for this, many of the CEOs may be oblivious of what they have signed as it is likened to putting a gun on their heads and making it very easy for the Minister to recommend their sack for just a minor infraction.

To others, it does not change anything as the Minister has enormous powers to recommend the sack of any aviation agency chief executive in a twinkle of an eye just as the performance has made it even easier because it is likened to them putting a gun on their heads.

If the Act establishing any of the aviation agencies must be followed, the performance bond may supersede the Act because the record can be replayed to show that an ’erring CEO’ already agreed to be removed whether for real or imaginable reasons.

While that is so, it puts the CEOS and their directors under immense scrutiny and that may be good for the overall interest of the country unlike in the past where CEOs worked at cross purposes without any meaningful coordination.

The Minister said that much when he disclosed that Nigeria did badly at the last International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as a result of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) not taking instruction from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the CAA not knowing what to do. That was damning disclosure from the Minister.

The Minister said this much when he used the sack of an under-performing coach as an analogy for the event of that day saying that when a football team is not doing well; somehow, it is the coach that gets fired.

“I used to wonder why fire the coach when it is not the coach that is playing football on the pitch. You can see that is the players who are not doing well, scoring the goals, you can see someone not defending well and you fire the coach, why? It is because it is the responsibility of the coach to manage and pick his team. So, they don’t sack the team but the coach. So, the changes that have been made in the aviation sector are aimed at making sure that the players play according to the vision of the coach or plan of the coach as simple as that.

“Those that were before you that you replaced weren’t because they were bad people but it is about the coach picking his team to actualize his vision and for the players to play to actualize the vision of the coach. That is what you must realize. Having said that, the five-point agenda of my tenure and that is why you must key into that plan.

“A call to service is more important than pecuniary gains and to show the world what you can do in office and improve things from where it was and where you were called to service. Like I said earlier, I signed a performance bond with Mr. President. Myself and the Perm sec signed a performance bond. This President can micro-manage you. He gave us the marching order to either perform or get fired. In like manner, I am calling on those whom I am supposed to work with to sign a performance bond. The CEOs must go back and sign performance bonds with their directors.

MD NAMA, Engr. Umar Ahmed Farouk and his directors pose with the Minister and Perm. Sec, Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development

“Thousands of Nigerians are ready to serve and you must consider it a privilege to serve. If you get to your offices and get involved in malfeasance and corruption, I will be the first to hand you over to anti-corruption agencies. You must realize the difference between private life and public life. I will not allow anybody to mess me up.

“We must get our vision and our priorities right. Success will be praised while shortcomings will be met with consequences. You need to understand this from the onset to prepare you for the task ahead. I charge you to fasten your seat belt in preparation for take-off,” he said.


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