THE EXIT OF PRINCESS STELLA ADAEZE ODUAH- "THE NEED TO CELEBRATE A TRUE PATRIOT"

The curtains were drawn last week on what can be safely referred to as the "Golden Era" in the Aviation sector when the exit of the Honourable Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah was made public.

The Minister had for the past 5 months or so become a victim of high level intrigue orchestrated by "forces" within and outside the Aviation sector. The "stratagem plan" of these forces was to discredit the noble achievements of the Minister through a well funded media propaganda campaign.

Finally, the evil cabal had their way. It is however expedient to x-ray the personality of Princess Stella Oduah with a view to getting some perspective on her journey from private to public life and the reason why, in my opinion, this unique woman should be celebrated for what she achieved in Aviation.

For those who knew her, Princess Stella Oduah excelled in a male dominated Oil & Gas Industry where she made her name and took her Company -Sea Petroleum & Gas Company to enviable heights setting the pace for others to follow in the Industry. From humble beginnings, she built a world class Company with sheer hard work, focus and dedication.  She believed that with determination and focus nothing was impossible. She was always ready to confront all-odds and had a never say die attitude to work.

Her Royal background did not change her perception of hard work as the key to success and has demonstrated this virtue all her life. Princess Stella Oduah is mentor to a lot of young aspiring entrepreneurs especially Women who continually follow her progress. Her scores of philanthropic gestures to the needy readily portray her as a people-oriented person.

It is therefore not surprising that she came into the public sector with that passion, focus and drive that under scored her success in the private sector. She believed strongly in the "Nigerian Project" and has at numerous fora espoused the need to create a platform for National Development.

It was therefore no coincidence that she forayed into politics in 2007 when against all expectations, she openly declared support for the "Yaradua-Jonathan ticket" From then on, she has worked assiduously in various capacities to promote public sector improvement and Good Governance.

She was very central to the campaign and subsequent election Victory of President Good Luck Jonathan in the 2011 elections. Her role lends credence to her statement a few years back where she remarked that " in President GoodLuck Jonathan, I see the passion to deliver a Country we all will be proud of". A Country where the  aspirations and capacity for growth of every citizen is not determined or limited by circumstances of birth.

It is instructive to note from above statement that Princess Oduah aligned with the President because they shared a similar vision and passion for the "Nigerian Enterprise" hinged on the need for a truly "National Social Contract" for all Nigerians.

It is in the light of this passion that we should x-ray her achievements in the Aviation Sector. This was a sector that was literally comatose at the time she took over the mantle of leadership.

It is obvious to see that Princess Oduah made so many enemies in Aviation because she refused to go the way of the previous Minister's of Aviation who came onboard and merely occupied the office without doing anything. As is usually the case in our polity, people resist change because they are benefitting from the status quo of decadence. For this category of people, they should be reminded that only change is permanent and the revolution started in the sector by Princess Oduah is glowing testimony to the fact that she has the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians at heart.

At this juncture, it is expedient to pay glowing tributes to His Excellency, President Good Luck Jonathan for giving Nigerians a servant like Princess Stella Oduah who took up the challenge to ride rough-shod to bring transformation to the Aviation Sector under his able leadership. if the relentless pressure mounted on Mr. President through the propaganda machinery of "these dark forces" was anything to go by, then one cannot but appreciate his decision to pull Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah out of Government and away from the eye of the storm.

Princess Stella Oduah demonstrated Will and Passion to correct the long years of decay and the Aviation sector is the better for it today. Her crime was that she refused to allow the continued short-changing of the Government and People of Nigeria  by a few selfish people in the sector through spurious and lop-sided concessions that mortgaged Government finances into private pockets.

 I want Nigerians to visualize and look back with nostalgia the state of our airports pre-2011 and how disheartening it was for them to travel out or return to Nigeria from abroad. Today we have 22 completely re-modelled airports that has changed Air Travel experience nationwide.

For once, let us put sentiments aside and focus on facts. Princess Stella Oduah has in less than 3 years bridged the infrastructure gap and decay of over 3 decades in the Aviation sector and this is no mean feat. The records and evidences are there for all to see.

What really did she do to elicit this "desperate gang-up". In analyzing how she went about her task, it is perhaps germaine at this point to ask a few questions:

1. Where was the Aviation sector Pre-2011 and where is it now?

2. What Crime did Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah commit and who was she a threat to?

3. Who are the entrenched interests in Aviation and what is their fear?

4. Was the Minister's transformation of the Sector in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians for which she took an oath to serve?

At the inception of the present administration, the Aviation sector had very puny corporate Governance procedures, obsolete and failing infrastructure which needed to be strengthened to enable them run efficiently in line with international best practices.

The Aviation Sector that was inherited in 2011 was one moving fast in the opposite direction of the rest of the World and this drift in the sector had to be immediately arrested.

The outgoing Honourable Minister and her team immediately on assumption of office developed an Aviation Master Plan and Road Map-the first of its kind in the history of the sector which was approved by the President. The transformation of the Sector has inevitably been anchored on the Master Plan and the Minister has not looked back ever since.

The consistent improvements in Aviation Safety over the last 2 years have resulted in ICAO classifying Nigeria as "Above Global Average" in the implementation of ICAO's Standards and Recommended Practices.

 This means therefore that the Aviation Industry in Nigeria is now safer and more compliant with ICAO standards and International Best Practices due to the hardwork and dedication of the Minister and her team. In the developed World, such passion for excellence in public service would be highly celebrated to recognize her passion and dedication to duty.

 The Aviation Master Plan and Road Map has charted a new course for the sector upon and forms the basis upon which the deliverables of the sector in the past 3 years have been hinged on.

The airports re-modelling and upgrading included completely new air conditioning, stand-by power systems, baggage belt systems, lifts, escalators and travelators. For the first time in a very long time, the general ambience at our international airport terminals is comparable to what you get abroad.

The transformation programme meant that a number of tough decisions had to be taken which included exiting from various lopsided concessions that were hitherto entered into. As would be expected, the decisions adversely affected several powerful interests that wanted the status quo to remain in their favour to the detriment of the industry and have continued to fight and distort public perceptions of the actions of the Ministry under Oduah's leadership.

In the course of my investigation, I found out that there were various powerful interests that are working in concert to force the removal of the Minister. These interests include some airline operators, some concessionaires and their cohorts and the group that can be referred to as the "hawks and Cobras in the Cabinet of Mr. President in addition to opposition parties that perceived Stella Oduah as life wire of the GEJ Administration.

Starting with the airline operators, it was common knowledge that some of the airline operators had become untouchables having complete disregard for established aviation practices and undermining the authority of supervising agencies and making it difficult for them to discharge their duties effectively. This had to be nipped in the bud.

Airline operators’ were challenging the authority of the CEO's of Aviation agencies and threatening them at will with sack using their connections in Government. As at today, a total of 16 billion Naira is owed by the airlines, which means the Government is being deliberately denied of revenue that it so requires to continually invest in infrastructural growth of the sector. Some airlines operate without adequate license and insurance, while others became hawkers, employing foreigners at the detriment of our local pilots This does not happen anywhere else in the world because if you do not pay for the services been rendered to you by the Aviation Agencies then they reserve the right to discontinue providing those services to you.

Aviation Safety and Security is key and it is an expensive venture so it is incumbent on the airlines to pay so that the Industry can grow on a consistent basis. She was immediately seen as an enemy and a "cog in their wheel of retrogression" for daring to demand that Airline Operators pay up their debts as well as for empowering the Agencies through robust Corporate Governance and internal process restructuring, to perform more effectively.

Secondly, some airlines had complete disregard for the public. Tickets were fraudulently sold to passengers on specific flight schedules only for flights depart seven or eight hours later without compensation to the passengers. This created absolute apathy by the entire industry to basic customer service responsibilities.

 When agency officials intervened to enforce Customer "Bill of Rights" airline owners shouted them down with threats to remove them from their jobs. Some Airline CEO's became over-mighty and attempted to "Cow the entire Industry into Docile Conformity" The Minister was determined to change this no matter whose Ox was Gored and this she did.

It was also discovered that there are a group of very unpatriotic Nigerians in Aviation who have thrived in twisting the law to bring in aircrafts for private use and then convert them for commercial purposes without insurance and policy. By so doing they evade payment of fees to Government, operate without license and subvert requisite domestic maintenance and safety policies endangering passenger lives and bringing the sector into disrepute internationally. This same group of "untouchables have used their licenses to convert Nigeria into a dumping ground for private aircrafts for as little as $10000 a month. Government was sadly not realizing the revenue due to it from the operators. Worst is capital flight, job loss and endangering the lives of innocent Nigerians.

A particular one that writes for a paper operates without adequate permit while another that claims to have spent 100 years in the industry hawks his licence without requisite maintenance staff and workers-most dangerous you might say

An integral part of the Aviation Master Plan was for the industry to be a net contributor to the Nation's GDP and the Minister's determination to ensure that all revenues due to Government are paid leading to the reversal of the trend she inherited where the industry had become a net liability to the Government and the national  economy since funds injected into the system by Government did not yield any tangible or desired results.

The Concessions- the various aviation concessions ranging from 25-45 years granted by previous Government were so lop-sided and utterly detrimental to the interest of Nigeria. Albeit as unsymmetrical as the concessions were, the contractual terms were completely defied and concessionaire carried out unilateral implementation of selected provisions. Thus a national matter of this magnitude was subjected to the "whims and caprices" of the "Almighty Concessionaire" who is deliberately defrauding the Government.

The concession rather than been of benefit to Nigeria mortgaged the Aviation Industry to a group of wicked and self seeking Nigerians without any revenue coming to the Federal Government over the next 45 years. It is instructive to note that the building plan for the concessioned airport did not go through approval process and is therefore not approved so no revenue accrues to the Government from that venture while all the revenues goes into private pockets without recourse to the Government .

Part of the concession agreement was for the concessionaire to provide airport passengers processing system with revenue from this to be split with FAAN. However, the concessionaire got greedy by keeping all revenue to himself and only pays stipends to FAAN whenever he deems fit. This is done in total disregard of the contractual terms guiding this agreement and more worrisome is the fact that the system is epileptic and hardly works.

Worse still is the fact that Government was barred by this concession from rehabilitating the domestic terminal which was in a sorry state and falling apart before our very eyes. How insensitive and callous can people be to the extent of sacrificing public good on the alter of self-interest. We are all living witnesses to the pro-active action been taken by the Minister to Re-Model all our airports. This has not gone down well with this group and their cohorts in Government.

The land allocated at the international terminal 25 years ago is wasting away without development. Government is not earning revenue from that land and when Government even offered an alternative land it was rejected by the same allotee.

If you have been allocated a land for 25 years and no development has taken place then the allocation should be revoked because it means you either do not need the land or as a matter of fact do not have the capacity to develop it so the Minister decided to challenge both the concessions and land allocation in court with a view to obtaining judgment that puts the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians above all other personal interests. This move is also seen as a step too far by the "Powers that be" so the Minister must be stopped at all cost. Sources revealed that they have also resorted to the disgraceful approach of organizing tugs to invade the airport and physically harass FAAN security personnel on duty in wanton display of their desperation to hold on to the concessions even when such defy logic.

Perhaps more intriguing is the findings on the disposition of the "Cobras" within the Executive Council of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan borne out of envy and struggle for relevance.

Findings further revealed that there is a group of Ministers within the Executive Council known as Cobras who worked assiduously to discredit the Minister of Aviation in a bid to stall her growing influence and relevance.

As preparations for 2015 elections approach, members of this group are said to be wary of the influence wielded by Princess Stella Oduah and vowed to force her out.

Now that Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah has left, it is my sincere belief that she deserves to be celebrated. Though her critics may feel otherwise but the fact remains that the transformation she brought to the sector cannot be swept under the carpet.

By the way, my findings revealed that she did not buy any bullet proof cars rather the cars were leased. Nobody can steal a leased car and anyone that really cares to know can find out the truth. Sahara reporters and opposition lied to Nigerians and in fact insulted Nigerians by also alleging that she served at NECA Yaba Lagos. Again Sahara and cohorts lied and were playing out a well rehearsed script of the opposition to cook up a scandal. This was part of their articulated strategy to eliminate the person they perceived as life wire of the Goodluck Administartion. This is very sad and unfortunate.

I went out of my way to investigate this matter because I believe we must never sacrifice development at the alter of Politics. It must always be about our people, the good people of Nigeria and no one should disrespect us.

In years to come, I think Nigerians will look back and give retrospective gratitude to this extraordinary Nigerian who fought on the side of the people against a "relentless army of unpatriotic citizens with parochial interest"

Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah should be proud of her achievements and should hold her head high irrespective of the evil machinations of her detractors.

She has done well and posterity will Judge her. I wish to join other well meaning Nigerians in saying well done to this agent of transformation. Media comments from her critics alleging that the renovations carried out at the airports were “cosmetic and window dressing” found apt response from the highly Revered Bishop Kukah who said that “If what Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah did in Aviation is window dressing then let other public servants window dress in their various ministries and parastatals so the masses can feel their impact”

I have absolute faith that President Good Luck Jonathan will appoint a successor who will build on the gains already recorded in the sector.

Take a Bow Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah, OON.