* Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State (Aviation) led a courtesy visit to Dr. O.B. Aliu, the ICAO President after the ICAO World Aviation Forum 2016 in Montreal Canada. * Pix Source : Mediaages.blogspot.ng
The President, Muhammadu Buhari has commended Nigerian-born President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Dr. Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu for his hard work and for being a good ambassador of Nigeria.
The president’s commendation was conveyed by the Minister of State (Aviation), Sen. Hadi Sirika, when he led Nigeria delegates to Aliu’s office in Montreal, Canada.
Recalled that the Council of ICAO elected by acclamation, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu (Nigeria) as its President for a period of three years.
Dr. Aliu tenure commenced on January 1, 2014 and will continue until December 31, 2016.
Prior to his election, Dr. Aliu served as the Representative of Nigeria on the Council from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2013.
ICAO Council elects its President for a term of three years and he may be re-elected soon.
According to Sirika, “The President recognised your hard work in championing aviation safety and security around the world. Your programs and objectives that are set out for ICAO is unprecedented, which makes us proud of you. This is also been shown in your re-election. You are a worthy ambassador of the country. We are proud that you can put Nigeria on the world map of aviation. The President has asked me to convey his best wishes to you.”
Responding to President Buhari’s message, Aliu said he appreciates the support given to him and ICAO by President Buhari.
“Let me take this opportunity to express my profound appreciation on your visit and to transmit through you Honourable Minister to His Excellency Mr. President for all the support that is being given to ICAO and to me personally.” He said
Expressing his desire to see Nigeria elected into the ICAO council due to the country’s contribution to aviation globally Aliu said, “I personally cannot imaging an ICAO Council without the participation of Nigeria because of the role Nigeria is playing in advancing the course of International civil aviation in the Africa region and within ICAO to support other developing countries in the spirit of the “No Country Left Behind” initiative.”
“Since my visit to Abuja, a number of initiatives and activities were discussed. And I have taken note of all the efforts you are putting in place to advance these issues to raise the level of aviation development in Nigeria in the region In particular in the area of capacity building. I have read many times your reference with to the need of Nigeria to have an aviation university. You have also been talking about the need to enhance the level of training in Zaria. From the information reaching me, it seems as far as Zaria, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) becoming a regional training centre of excellence, we are on course on that. We will soon have very good news in respect to that with the process of assessment.”
He continued, “On all the other issues, whether it is safety oversight, the result of the audit is something that is heartwarming and a number of issues we have to address. In particular, in the area of aviation security, where Nigeria scored over 96 per cent in our audit. That is very heartwarming and it is a good example for developing security. Aviation security is becoming a critical aspect of global security. Just last week the Assembly at the UN adopted a resolution focused on Aviation Security and that resolution recognised the effort of ICAO’s “No Country Left Behind”. We are going to focus more attention on that in years to come.”
