The minister of aviation and aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, has said his appointment to head the aviation ministry was not a mistake.
He said he would continue to build on the aviation roadmap developed by the immediate past administration.
Keyamo stated this while assuming office on Monday, August 21, in Abuja.
He said: “My appointment by President Bola Tinubu was not by mistake. The president would have thought it well before appointing me.”
On his plans for the sector, he said: “I have read the roadmap developed in 2016. I read it thoroughly and our intention is not to disrupt things that have been done so well, if there are things that have not been done so well, we will look at it thoroughly.
“We may have to add to the roadmap but not pull it down totally because I know it was a product of a roundtable held in 2016, so it was well thought out and I like the structure that I saw.”
Keyamo further said he intends to get briefings in the next few days and come up with proposals to develop the sector.
He also stated that he has noted some items in the roadmap that needs to be improved upon.
He added: “For me, my watchword is transparency. At every point, Nigerians must understand what we are doing and we must carry everyone along so that we don’t have some of the complaints we had in the past. We are serving the Nigerian people. Everything I do has always been to satisfy the Nigerian people.
“We are going to move from very complex issues to simple issues that every Nigerian faces. They may not know the work we are doing behind in terms of safety, but usually, people appreciate what they see every day like the cleanliness of the environment, and how early they get their flight among others.”
“At every point in time, we must put the people first. I intend to start getting briefings from the directors first, then agencies starting from tomorrow. The Permanent Secretary should draw a schedule up for the briefings.”
The permanent secretary, Emmanuel Meribole described the minister as somebody who is well grounded and result oriented.
He also said his appointment as the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace development was not a mistake but divinely arranged.
He said the ministry is set to reposition the aviation sector through the aviation roadmap, assuring that the staff of the ministry are committed to giving the minister the needed support.
Meribole also urged the minister to use his in-depth knowledge to address some litigation issues in the ministry