FG sets up ministerial team over ICAO safety audit

The federal government has set up a ministerial team to prepare for the next audit of the aviation industry by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

This is against the backdrop of the many gaps identified by ICAO in the last audit which are expected to be filled in the next audit.

Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, in a statement Tuesday also cried out over what he called a campaign of calumny against him over the last audit.

The statement signed by his media aide, Tunde Moshood, stated that the recent 71 per cent ICAO score “is a reflection of systemic issues inherited from the previous administration, and not as a result of Mr Keyamo’s stewardship of just nine months.”

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He said, “It was Mr Keyamo’s brilliance and managerial expertise that steered the nation through the ICAO audit process, mitigating what could have been a worse situation. Mr Keyamo has since set up a ministerial team, headed by himself and to be meeting monthly, to prepare for the next audit, something never done before in the sector.”

The minister described the alleged campaign of calumny as “the push-back by the reactionary forces” which he stated should be expected.

The statement added that the minister’s diplomatic engagement helped in resolving the issue of the trapped funds that had threatened to paralyze the nation’s aviation sector, inflicting untold hardship and financial stress on the travelling public.