THISDAY Aviation Correspondent Wins Award
The Aviation Correspondent at THISDAY Newspapers Limited, Mr. Chinedu Eze, has emerged the ‘Best Aviation Print Reporter of the Year’, at the 2018 award ceremony organised by the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN).
The award ceremony took place in Lagos, yesterday.
The organisers explained that the award was in recognition of Eze’s contribution to the aviation industry through quality and professional coverage of the industry’s activities.
Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO Aviance), Mr. Idris Yakubu, called on the federal government to develop policies to save the country’s aviation industry from collapse.
Yakubu, spoke on the theme, ‘Promoting the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product through Safety Consciousness in the Aviation Industry.’
Represented at the event by NAHCO’s Head, Commercial, Mr. Kelechi Amechi, Yakubu described the Nigerian aviation industry as “an abysmal failure” and unacceptable, charging the government to invest heavily in the sector.
He argued that of the 3.5 per cent jobs created by the industry globally, Nigeria’s aviation industry can only create 0.2 per cent, stressing that the sector’s infrastructural condition was far below what obtained else where in the world.
He added: “I cannot understand why we cannot have a standard airport as we have it in other parts of the world.
“There is need for government to look at the aviation sector of our economy critically and come up with a deliberate plan to develop and grow the industry.
“There is need to invest in human resources in the industry; there is need to invest heavily in aviation in Nigeria. What we have currently as airports is not befitting.”
In his keynote address, the Minister of State for Aviation, Capt. Hadi Sirika, represented by the Commissioner, Accident Investigation Bureau, Mr. Akin Olatiru, commended the association for continuously leading the industry stakeholders and professionals in discussing safety issues which he said was key to the growth and advancement of the aviation industry.