Teddy Oscar, Abuja
The Senate has confirmed the duo of Mr. Osita Benjamin Chidoka and Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman as ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Chidoka, who hails from Anambra State, is the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), while Sulaiman, who hails from Kwara State, is a lecturer at the University of Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan had on Thursday, July 10, 2014 forwarded to the Senate the names of the two nominees for screening and confirmation.
The confirmation of the two appointees on Wednesday would lay to rest the complaints of marginalisation by Anambra and Kwara states.
Going by the Federal Character principle, Chidoka will be the replacement for the former minister of aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, while Sulaiman would fill the slot of Kwara State, which has been vacant since the former minister of sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, was shown the way out of office.
Responding to questions on the insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria, Sulaiman blamed the security challenges on the negligence of Nigerians and the security agencies, whom he accused of not paying attention to the preliminary security threats in the country.
As a strategy towards tackling the security problem in the country, Sulaiman enjoined government to checkmate the influx of arms into the country.
He also asserted that the war against terrorism could not be won due to the lack of unity amongst the diverse interest groups in the country, calling on the people to jettison their differences and unite in order to win the war against terror.
He further argued that the insurgents were thriving in their wicked act as a result of the sympathy they received from the people.
“As long as they are being supported by some Nigerians, they will continue to wax strong in their terrorist adventures. The insurgency being perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect got to this stage because of our failure as a people and as security agencies to identify what constitutes threats to security. For years, we have the Zango Kataf crisis, we have the Sharia crisis, we used to see our Almajiris almost everywhere doing nothing, roaming the streets.
“All these instances portend serious danger for Nigeria, but nobody was talking. Even the way we are denying the Niger Delta people of what is due to them could portend great danger in the nearest future. Our problem therefore, has to do with our failure to assess this situation. If we had done that before, we will not be where we are today.
“To address the problem therefore, we have to look at the influx of arms into Nigeria. Terrorists are in categories. We have the active cadre, who carry out the bombardment. They do the bombing, and the kidnapping, among others. We also have the passive ones who are the sympathisers. We then have the supportive cadre who are many in our midst.
“We cannot win the war on terrorism except and unless we are united as a country. That unity is missing. The terrorists see in us, as a people, as a government, as Nigerians that some of us are sympathetic to their course and that is what is keeping them going. So long as that is the issue, we cannot win that war.
“In strategizing to win the war on terrorism, we must go back to what I refer to as grand national strategy. All hands must be on the deck. We must look at the the political system, and the various sectors of the country. Where a section defined on measures to fight terrorism, our effort towards winning that war will be a mirage.
“Nigerians must unite as Americans were united in the course of fighting terrorism in their country. The customs and the immigration has a work to do. We all look up to the military and the police but we should consider how the arms come into the country. Who is to take care of our borders? Who are the protectors of these borders? We are not asking these questions. I want to believe that the paramilitary agencies like the customs and immigration have not done much,” he said.
On his part, Chidoka assured that, if appointed as minister of aviation, though without in depth knowledge of the sector, he would do everything within his jurisdiction to revolutionise the industry.
He noted that Nigeria was not doing well in her national career passenger traffic when compared to what obtains in other countries, including smaller African countries that even depend on Nigeria for financial assistance.
“I don’t have a very good picture of the national carrier. But I must say this, compared to other African countries, Nigeria is not doing very well in terms of passenger traffic. Between Lagos and Abuja Nigerian airports are connected to about 61 cities, out of which only about 32 are international cities. Oliver Thambo airport in South Africa is connected to 130 cities around the world. The airport in Turkey, in Instabul is connected to 170 cities around the world. Why are business class seats expensive in Nigeria? Because of constraints in supply.
“We can’t have a country of 160million people and have 14 million passengers traveling on our airports. The number is not good. It is too small for a country like Nigeria. The number of aircrafts coming in and leaving Nigeria are not big enough for the size of our economy. So, I think that we need to open up our space, we need share our national aspirations to be a country that play in league with the GDP size we have.
“So, we need to grow capacity and a national carrier may be the way to make good whatever strategies we need to put in place to increase the number of seats that leave Nigeria is critical to making Nigeria open. If I do become the minister of aviation, I will talk to industry experts and stakeholders to see how we can unleash the vast potentials that Nigeria stands to gain,” he stated.
In his concluding statement, the Senate President, David Mark, said, “I urge this two nominees confirmed that as young men, they should bring new ideas on board. They should not go there and just fall in line and not perform. We expect that they would perform because before us they have performed very well. So we hope that when they go there they would perform very well too.”
