The acting director-general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Chris Najomo has said the uncertainty surrounding the confirmation of his appointment as the substantive director-general of the Authority is not a distraction to him.
He further said he has done well in the last year as an acting DG, and the rest is left for President Bola Tinubu, who is saddled with the final decision to confirm his appointment.
Capt. Najomo stated this at the commemoration of the celebrations of 25 years of NCAA establishment in Abuja on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
Speaking on the current issue of confirming his appointment and the lobbying from different quarters and how it is affecting his job, Capt. Najomo said, “It’s not affecting my work. There are no distractions. Because I’m resolute in doing what I’m supposed to do. My confirmation is in the hands of Mr. President. When it comes to time, he will do what is needed. For now, it’s not distracting me. I’m doing my job.”
Speaking on what to expect from the NCAA this year, Najomo said “Well, let me start by saying that in 2024, we were very proactive in what we were doing. And you can see we did enhance surveillance. And this year going forward, we are going to do enhanced surveillance. We are going to do more as per consumer protection. We are going to do more to protect passenger rights. And of course, it also protects the airline’s rights because passengers must know their rights and responsibilities. And we, as NCAA, will make sure that enhanced surveillance in checking all these airlines that they conform to how safe they are.
Making sure they maintain the NCAA regulations.
“And of course, another thing again is star productivity has been enhanced because of the welfare that they have gotten and all that. So we expect to do more. They have done well in 2024, I must tell you. And they are going to do better in 2025. Because again, we are doing the digital processing, so by the end of this year, I am sure we will be fully digitalised. We also have the flight data centre that is there. These are some of our major achievements.”
Speaking further on NCAA activities, Najomo said, “The NCAA plans for the future are safety issues. We must make sure the airspace is safe. And let me be honest with you, what Mr President has done with his Renewed Hope agenda has ensured that our minister, with his five key points agenda, has, of course, given us the opportunity to perform more. And we are going to continue performing more. Our directories are on the ground.
“We will do anything to ensure that every airline complies. You can see recently that we had to sanction some airlines, and they accepted the sanctions.
“We sanctioned five airlines because they refused to pay for refund tickets, and they have agreed to pay on time. Was it Ethiopian? The country manager came to see me and said they are confirming, please, blah, blah, blah, and all that. So, you know, this year, 2025, we hope to see more and better.”
On some of the challenges he faced within the past year, the NCAA boss said, “Well, a lot of petitions at the initial stage. A lot of unconfirmed petitions. They just write stories about me. Even when they brought out the N250 million naira Jeep issue, these were all false. NCAA never bought any car for me. So, those are the distractions I had here and there. People just putting in banters. But it didn’t distract me. I continued to do my work.”
As part of the activities to make the NCAA 25, the Authority organised a special prayer programme, during which the aviation union, the staff, and the Authority’s management eulogised the past and present management of the organisation and offered a way forward for the years ahead.
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