3 DGs of NCAA never changed within 3 yrs —Dati

The allegation that three Directors General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, were changed within three years has been debunked by the agency spokesman, Mr. Yakubu Dati. Dati was reacting to a statement credited to a former DC-10 pilot with the defunct Nigeria Airways, Capt. Dan Omale, that such a change carried out by former Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah was “unprecedented anywhere else in the world.” He added that “with such a high turn-over of the heads of the NCAA, instability in the system becomes inevitable and it is now showing.” Dati said: “Dr. Harold Demuren was the Director-General, NCAA, until 2012. Oduah met him in that position and he continued in that office until 2012 when his statutory tenure ended. No substantive Director-General of NCAA was appointed until early 2013, when Capt. Fola Akinkuotu was appointed Director-General of NCAA by the President. “Where are the three Directors-General that were changed? As a matter of fact, Capt Akinkuotu, the second Director-General was only recently removed.” Dati also denied that Air Operator Certificate, AOC, and licences for chartered operations were biased, saying that only persons or organisations that met the stringent standard requirements were given the approval to operate.