Barley less than one week of apparent cleansing by way of dismissal of top 20 officials of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the National Union of Air Transport Employees has came out to hail the step, saying it’s long overdue.
The General Secretary, NUATE, Mr. Olayinka Abioye, said that the action should be replicated in other agencies in the sector.
He recalled that his body had over the last couple of months written various petitions bordering on the reasons why they were eased out of office.
He said, “We want the exercise to be carried out in all the aviation parastatals and agencies. We also believe that there should be less interference in the running of these agencies.
“The exercise that was carried out in FAAN on Wednesday ought not to have happened in the first instance if we had done our work properly. Political patronage took precedence over public service rules and regulations.”
Abioye said it was unheard of for a graduate of 10 years to be appointed as a general manager, adding that it would take a career public servant about 26 years to get to the same position.
It would be recalled that about 21 senior officials of FAAN were on Wednesday sacked following a major shake-up of the aviation sector by the Federal Government.
The sacking followed the recommendations of a presidential committee headed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita.
Directors, general managers and deputy general managers were affected, while no fewer than 10 general managers, who were reportedly not properly placed, were demoted to their appropriate grade levels.
Some of the managers formerly placed on Level 17 were in a letter issued by the Federal Ministry of Transportation demoted to lower levels or redeployed to other departments.
