"The Rot in College of Aviation, Zaria" - by: Sanusi Abubakar via Daily Trust for the attention of the ICPC....... Two Thursdays ago, as we gathered for the regular meeting of our Editorial Board, we were informed by the Editor-in-Chief, who chairs the Board, that we should expect an august visitor. At 12 noon the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related offence Commission (ICPC), Ekpo Nta, came in with his entourage. It was to be a very engaging and informative session that ended with the Chairman giving out his email address and mobile phone number to us, adding that he welcomed information, tips and suggestions on how to improve their performances. When I got a copy of the petition of the Zazzau Emirate Development Association (ZEMDA) regarding the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, I decided to take him up on this and see what would follow. It seems better than just sending a text or an email, because I believe that corrupt practices should be publicly exposed and investigated. In a nutshell, the Association comp-lained about the lopsidedness of the staffing at the College, which is being compounded by recent new, openly ethnic appointments in total disregards to the principle of federal character, as well as what they alleged was an open secret move to engage the College in an opaque Public Private Partnership deal with some groups not known in aviation circles, and without regards to the powers vested in the Bureau for Public Enterprises. Specifically they argued that, as things stand, 10 (Rector, Bursar, Registrar, Chief Medical Director and 4 of the Heads of Schools, among them) out of 15 top management positions are “from her ethnic tribe (sic); 3 from the South-West and one each from North-Central and North-West.” They accused the Rector of illegally employing more from her tribe, as well as sons, a grandson and a nephew without regards to laid-down procedure or due process. These newly employed staff members, they charged, are often immediately sent abroad for training. Some of the new appointments are even duplications of existing offices, while others seemed very strange as people are just being recruited into posts not provided for in the establishment. The issue that is very disturbing however is their fear that the College may soon be sold out to private concerns and ultimately moved out of Zaria. This allegation has been aired over the years beginning from the time when Mrs Kema Chikwe was in charge of aviation ministry but, despite several denials, it still persists to this day. One reason that adds to the fear was a recent report by some “consultants” appointed to advice on privatising or commercialising the College. These so-called experts concluded that the present location of the College “is unlikely to attract interest from serious and qualified bidders” because “existing facilities and REMOTE LOCATION OF ZARIA” (emphasis added) are “NOT ATTRACTIVE.” Incidentally it was a UNDP-appointed consultant that recommended the College be located in Zaria due to its centrality and clement weather. Personally, I share ZEMDA’s suspicions. For, if the College is not listed by BPE for privatization or commercialization, why are “the Ogas at the top” in the aviation ministry seeking advice along that line? As the petitioners pointed out, the moves had gone even farther. For not long ago, an agreement was entered into, on the instruction of the Ministry, between the College and some small-timers with no known presence in the aviation industry. Three companies, African-Nordic Energy Resources Limited, Espandate Equipment Company Limited and Scandic Construction Limited, all of them Anambra-based petty contractors with no track record in aviation, training or turning enterprises around, were selected to go into a PPP arrangement with NCAT. Each decided what it would do for the College, decided on costs and these indirect contracts are to be paid for by the school without even a modicum of proper selection, transparency or accountability. These fears may be exaggerated, or even unfounded. However, why was the decision taken to enter into a PPP without following laid-down procedures? Why was there no open tender for selecting these prospective partners? Come to think of it, when was the Aviation College turned into a profit-making business? For what it is worth, I am forwarding the ZEMDA petition to ICPC, because I noticed that they did not “copy” it. Yet, the pertinent question remains; where are all the Zaria indigenes? Don’t they care? Have they no one in the legislative bodies? Surely they voted for some representatives or senators. On a broader note, since when has aviation become such a one-tribe affair? Why are the Aviation Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate as well as the Minister of Aviation from one geopolitical zone? Does the North, for example, have no interest in what happens in that sector? More fundamentally, why have the boards of all the parastatals in the Ministry of Aviation not been inaugurated after they were reconstituted by the Presidency months ago? Without such boards in place, a minister could do as he or she pleases. Surely, a functioning board for NCAT would have addressed these issues before they even got so public and so politicized. It is time that some of these issues are properly investigated and laid to rest, one way or another. Aviation training is a very serious matter. After Boko Haram? With President Goodluck Jona-than insisting that all security personnel engaged in the current anti-terrorism adhere strictly to the laid down “rules of engagement”, and given the recent change of tactics of the soldiers, which have begun to soften popular perception that they are targeting whole communities, as well as the support we are now hearing of communal efforts to rid Borno, Yobe and elsewhere of the murderous activities of sects out to change reality by crude force, we can now begin to hope for peace and an end to terror. However, we witnessed Maitatsine and Kala-Kato and similar insurgencies. What lessons have we learnt by now? What are we planning to do to make sure that never again would we be held to ransom, never again would we be maimed or killed at will by groups out to enforce their own agenda on all of us? Can we prevent the next wave of bombings, senseless killings, fear and grief? Or are we too short-term oriented to even begin thinking ahead? dailytrust.info/index.php/columns/tuesday-columns/78-the-rot-in-college-of-aviation-zaria-over-to-you-icpc
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:17:01 +0000
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