The
former Minister of Aviation, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, yesterday challenged the incumbent
Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, to a debate if she has any
reservation on anything he might have said on the state of the nation’s
aviation industry.
Fani-Kayode threw the challenge at the minister in a live
interview on Channels Television in Abuja. The stance was the
continuation of war of words going on between the duo, over what he described
as frequent air mishaps which culminated into the death of scores of people in
the past few years.
According to him, “I am prepared to have a one-on -one debate
with the Minister of Aviation; not her aides, not her associates, if she has
any reservations about anything that I have said to her.”
The former minister maintained that some of the strides
currently made in the sector were kick started by him while in office.
“When I came into office, it is unbelievable that Nigeria had no radar system
since 1979, we used Ghanaian radar for people to fly into Lagos and other parts
of the country and on assumption, the first thing we did was to set up a 79
radar to cover the Lagos area.
I resurrected the Tracon programme, funded it
and the president approved it and now we have a full radar coverage in this
country. By the time the next administration came in, they commissioned it, we
started it.”
He also said there are many hidden facts in the aviation sector
unknown to the public, but noted that the present administration was building
up on the foundation that was laid by him, adding that he would not shy away
from criticizing the Ministry of Aviation whenever it is going wrong.
“Having said that, I don’t want to make life difficult for her;
we should support and encourage her, but where I believe she is getting it
wrong, we need to be able to criticize effectively to protect the lives of our
people; they deserve that much.”
Speaking further he explained that prior to his assumption of
office as minister of aviation, air crash was on the increase in the country.
But when he stepped in, he said strict measures were put in place to forestall
it, and also attributed it to hard work and prayers.”
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