LAGOS—THE Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has called on the aviation minister not to receive report of the committee probing allegations of bribery and corruption levelled against suspended director of operations, licensing and training (DOLT) in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) without its appearance before the committee.
Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda, had set up a committee to investigate the activities of the DOLT, Capt. .P. Ogochukwu, who was accused of soliciting for and receiving bribe from AON members before approving their licenses.
But the group in a letter sent to the minister in Abuja, said it was merely clearing its name and those of its members of any complicity, adding that Capt. Ugochukwu was being unnecessarily hounded by those who wanted him removed from office to replace him with their acolytes.
The AON said in the letter signed by chairman, Dr. Steve Mahonwu, and Secretary-General, Capt. Mohammed Joji: “We would like to clear our names collectively as AON and as individual airlines.
“We are, therefore, requesting the Hon. Minister of Aviation to ensure that Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) is called to testify to the anti-corruption committee of the ministry. This way, they will present a balanced report on the matter.”
The group said one of the airlines fingered in the allegation had since denied offering capt. Ugochukwu money to slant things in its favour, saying Capt. Ugochukwu had been a victim of petitioners in the past when he was appointed head of DSRAM simply because they were not comfortable with his appointment.
The petitioners, the group recalled, had petitioned the minister on grounds that Ugochukwu was not qualified to head the unit, and that investigation by the minister proved otherwise.
According to the AON, this unfounded allegations by the petitioners, especially the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) against the suspended NCAA director in 1997 compelled then aviation minister, Air Commodore Ita Udo-Imeh to sack the founder, Capt. Jerry Agbeyegbe from the Civil Aviation Flying Unit (CAFU) for misinforming him.
“In 2001, Dr.(Mrs.) Kema Chikwe was confronted with similar issue in addition to demanding bribe. The petitioners and accusers had tried to replace him with Capt. Ore or Capt Iweka. AON and pilots association voiced their respective opinions in the matter.
“Dr. Chikwe exonerated Capt. Ugochukwu; we believe that they are the same players who are involved in this current allegations made against Capt. Ugochukwu, believing that as a new minister you may not be aware of what happened in the past,” the AON said.
It credited the suspended NCAA director with many of the radical changes in the agency, stressing particularly that he saved airline operators a lot of money paid out as estacode allowance to NCAA inspectors for inspection of aircraft and other facilities in Europe and USA/Far East by slashing the duration of inspection to four days and seven days respectively from seven and 10.
