By Bitrus Ogba
When the people of the south west allege that they were marginalized by
the appointment of the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah I get
amused. And when I hear that the appointment she made was dominated by people
from the south east I get bewildered.
If you check it you will discover that Oduah’s appointments were the most
balanced in the industry since 1999 because it gave full representation to
every part of the country. But I know why the south west is surprisingly crying
marginalization. In the past they used to dominate every appointment made in
the industry. And even now, if you get the list of all the workers in all the
aviation parastatals, you will find out that they have the highest number of
appointments.
They are alleging ethnic cleansing because other parts of the country
have been given opportunity.
What I have come to know about Nigeria is that when you enjoy an
unjustifiable advantage, you would want it to continue and when there is any
effort to address the injustice, those benefitting will start shouting because
they see it as a right to cheat others.
For example, I was privileged to access some documents in the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria when Richard Aisuebeogun was the Managing
Director of the Authority. These documents revealed that the former Aviation
Minister, Chief Femi Fani Kayode employed about 30 persons in FAAN. 16 of them
were made assistant general managers, deputy general managers and general
managers, while the rest were absorbed in other ranks.
These people did not have any aviation experience before they were
employed. In fact, most of them came from local government councils and others
were just thugs. These 30 people came from Osun and Ogun states. When many of
them were examined medically prior to their employment, they failed medical
tests; yet they were still absorbed. Many of them are still there till now.
That is the way he deployed about the same number of people to the other
aviation agencies. Now, I cannot recall any group from other parts of Nigeria
crying ethnic cleansing. I cannot recall the unions raising hell about it. I
also know that there were efforts to reduce staff in FAAN at that time because
of over bloated manpower, as the Authority lacked technical personnel but had
very high number of administrative personnel because unprofessional people were
dumped in the Authority.
I remember that all the efforts made to reduce that number failed because
some powerful people were contacted to kill that move. And so the agency lives
with that burden till today. The question is why were no outcry about marginalization
and ethnic cleansing then?
To me, it was because the people that over the years have seen it as a
right to dominate other people made the appointments. They did not even
consider federal character; they did not even consider getting few people from
other parts of the country; yet there was no deafening outcry. Today, Princess
Oduah employed Nigerians into the parastastals, taking cognizance of the
federal character and some people are crying wolf.
I need to be contradicted, but I am sure that most of those who are
crying ethnic cleansing and marginalization have not seen the actual number of
people employment and where they came from. Somebody just threw allegation into
the air and it automatically transmuted into a fact; nobody cares to verify
because the objective is to run some people down.
Some people, especially some journalists who are campaigning against the
appointment had argued that two wrongs does not make a right; that because
somebody did it in the past does not mean that somebody should do it
again. I wish this argument and logic started at least six years ago. That is
why I said I am amused when I read this in the papers.
I think the earlier we realized that every Nigerian has a stake in this country
and has equal opportunity in this country the better we hoped to sustain the
future of our dear nation. Those who think they will continue to lord it over
others should think again and realize that Nigeria was not created for them
alone; it was created for all Nigerians.
Campaign of calumny can never submerge the truth; it can only heat up the
political system and facts always stand out at the end of the day. And it is
even surprising that the people of south west are the ones crying ethnic
cleansing and marginalization. I remember some years back when they were
mocking a region well known for the word, marginalization and accusing them of
whipping up self-pity sentiments. Isn’t it surprising that the words ethnic
cleansing and marginalization are not, after all, a monopoly of some other
ethnic groups.
(Bitrus Ogba was the Former Manager Administration of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria)
