The rate at which the political class, particularly the members of National Assembly are using their positions to unnecessarily harass the aviation agencies with pressure of their family members and cronies have become a source of concern to many stakeholders.
Information available to the Crucial Moment is pointing to the fact that virtually all the aviation agencies are gradually becoming an extension of their secretariat where they believe they can get whatever they want even at the expense of other Nigerians on whose shoulders they rode to get to their different public positions.
While the National Assembly members like other politicians including the governors, ministers and their cronies by virtue of their positions already have unfettered access to unlimited privileges, even the little opportunities the ordinary Nigerians who are in the majority should have been left to enjoy are still being grabbed by the same political class as if they are land grabbers.
Agreed that this abuse of privileges by the political glass is not peculiar to aviation but other sectors of the country, the winner-takes-it all attitude of the supposed people’s representatives have continued to play out in all areas.
There is no doubt that the present minister of aviation, Festus Keyamo trying his best to greatly transform the sector through many of the policies he is rolling out, the same thing is equally happening with the chief executives of the different agencies who are on their feet in the game of improving the component that made up seamless aviation sector.
While the minister and his team deserve recognition for this, let it be known to them that stakeholders and even many Nigerians conversant with the happenings in the sector particularly as regards recruitment into the agencies are not comfortable with the absolute usurpation of the employment opportunities in the sector by the politicians.
There is none of the agencies you will visit that you will not find the children or family members of the lawmakers and other political influencers while the hope of ordinary Nigerians qualified for such positions have been dashed as this class of selfish politicians has taken over the soul of the sector.
Inasmuch as there is nothing wrong with helping family members, but the level of the abuse of such privileges has only once again exposed the greed and lack of the interest of the common Nigerians by these so called expected representatives of the people. This has gone to confirm the notion that this group of politicians are only in their positions to satisfy their family members and cronies.
According to information gathered, the political influencers with the lawmakers as the most guilty are fond of imposing their candidates including even the inexperienced and even those still undergoing the National Youth Service Corps training on the CEOs of the agencies for immediate employment.
Once they get the information on vacancies at the agencies, they have the list of their candidates which they forward with the utmost speed to the CEOs for immediate employment with absolute disregard to the civil service rules and this has remained the bane of the sector.
The situation has gone so bad that a first time visitor to some of the agencies will think he/she is in a school environment due to the large numbers of the inexperience children and family members of the political influencers parading the agencies as staff.
This is sadly a contradiction to the plight of ordinary Nigerian youth who despite the fact that they are more qualified and experienced, had and still being denied employments.
In other words, it has become so terrible that the hopes of children of ordinary Nigerians or the middle class, if it is still existing, to fulfill their dreams of working in the sector of their choice may be a tall dream as the political class continues to have its ways in every available opportunity.
The most irritating aspect of the shenanigans of the politicians is how they use blackmail and threats to force the CEOs to accommodate their candidates even when their candidates do not merit the available positions. Under this circumstance, no CEOs can do otherwise for fear of being set up for subsequent sack.
This suffocation of ordinary Nigerians by the politicians is unfortunately not limited to aviation as it is happening in other sectors, but among the questions on the lips of Nigerians include: whether NIgeria belongs to the politicians and their family alone and whether the good of the land is only reserved for them.
As the political class is seamlessly enjoying the commonwealth pool of the over two hundred million Nigerians without blinking an eye, shouldn’t they also consider that other Nigerians deserve even some crumbs from the national heritage?
In all honesty,the abuse of office by the politicians and their likes in the country has no rival as it can never happen in saner climes. To the politicians notorious for using their positions to oppress ordinary Nigerians, they should think of tomorrow and remember that the same people whose rights they are trampling on are the ones who entrusted the positions they are misusing to them for the purpose of giving them hope and better lives. What goes around as often said comes around.
