The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has commenced investigation into the circumstances surrounding United Nigeria flight NUA 0506 to Asaba and the confusion it has created in the public domain.

This is contained in a statement signed by NCAA Director – General, Capt. Musa Nuhu on Monday in Abuja.

” However, preliminary steps have been taken pending conclusions of ongoing investigation.

“The Authority wishes to reassure the traveling public that it will leave no stone unturned as it has always done in the past to ensure continued safety of the aviation industry, ” he said.

Meanwhile , Mr Achilleus- Chud Uchegbu, Head Corporate Communications of United Nigeria Airlines, in a statement said the flight which took of in Lagos en route Abuja on Sunday was temporarily diverted to the Asaba International Airport, Delta.

According to him, the diversion was due to poor destination weather.

” At all material time, the pilots of the aircraft were aware of the temporary diversion and were properly briefed.

” However, a wrong announcement was made by cabin crew upon landing in Asaba creating confusion among the passengers.

” Meanwhile, the aircraft had landed safely in Abuja following improvement on destination., ” he said.

The Ogun State Government, Federal Ministry of Aviation, and other stakeholders will, this week, meet on concessioning the Gateway Agro-Cargo International Airport.

The airport, located in the Iperu-Ilishan axis of the state, is nearing completion with aircraft already landing at the location.

The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun speaking on a Channels TV programme on Sunday evening, disclosed that efforts by the state government to recoup every penny expended on the airport would begin with the take-off of the concessioning agreement.

Prince Abiodun said that because of the world-class facilities available at the airport, the state government received many concessioning offers.

He said: “Returns on airport investments are not seen overnight. We have been receiving unsolicited offers from others who are desirous of consessioning this airport and paying us back everything the airport costs us.

“So, for us, our money has worked. We invested in building this airport to de-risk it because we realised that if we had gone ahead and advertised for others to come and build this airport for us, we probably would only have started building it at the end of our second term. So, we decided to bite the bullet. We invested. We have built that airport.

“Because of the standard that we have adhered to– we’ve built a world class airport here– we have now received unsolicited offers to concession the airport from us and I am happy to say that we have accepted one of those offers. By the grace of God, on Tuesday , we will be signing that concession. You will see the Minister of Aviation along with the heads of aviation parastatals signing with us to a third party who currently manages three other airports in Africa.

“And this third party would be paying the entire amount the airport has cost us. So, it would now be his responsibility to run this airport in line with the world best practices. He would be responsible for bringing in traffic to this airport, and I know that he is already speaking to some major cargo companies around the world. We’ve created this enabling facility. “They said you build a road that connect you from one point to the other, but when you build an airport, it takes you from one point to the rest of the world. And we think that with what we’ve done, we’ve opened Ogun State to the rest of the world.”

Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) PLC’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Basil Agboarumi has been presented the ‘Best Practice Award’ by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) at the Ibom Icon Resort at Uyo, Akwa-Ibom state.

The award was presented during the NIPR Director’s Conference and Retreat 8.0 by the NIPR President, Mr. Ike Neliaku in recognition and appreciation of Basil’s outstanding professionalism in public service. At the event, the Chairperson Planning Committee of the conference, Mrs. Thelma Okoh said the Conference was organised to serve as a rallying point for all the Directors in Public Relations to encourage collaborative learning for the decision makers in the industry.

Also, at the event which was well attended by the Public Relations’ Directors from both the public and private sectors and the crème-de-la-crème of the society, Mr. Basil Agboarumi gave a presentation titled: INSIGHTS FROM BEST PRACTICES MODEL. During his presentation, Basil encouraged the Public Relations Directors to ensure that they are knowledgeable about their respective operating environment so that when the opportunity to head their organisations is presented, they would be able to perform effectively.

Furthermore, Basil emphasised that integrity, loyalty and continuous personal development is key to going far in the industry and he encouraged the Directors not to rest on their oars but to continually attune themselves to learning about global best practices both locally and from foreign institutions.

Basil reiterated that for him to transition from the Public Relations landscape to seating at the head of the Board room was a product of the grace of God and competence that was demonstrated when he was given the opportunity to act in the stead of his predecessor when he was on annual leave. 

This provided an opportunity to hone his skills such that the transition was seamless when his predecessor’s tenure ended. He emphasised that having the luxury of a highly competent professional team of SAHCO to work with was something that has also made his job a lot easier.

During the award presentation, the NIPR President, Mr. Ike Neliaku said Basil Agboarumi has made the NIPR institution very proud and the award was in recognition of the good name that Basil has given the practice. He went on to say that Basil’s achievement is a testament that Public Relations Practitioners can provide leadership for institutions and are not stuck as members of the Boardroom alone.

Agboarumi while receiving the award said he was indeed humbled at the gesture and he said he was just contributing his own quota to the development of the country as a whole. He said the award would encourage more people to know that no good deed goes unrewarded and emphasised that Public Relations Practitioners should ensure that they are dependable both to their superiors and dependants and should make sure that whatever is communicated to both the public and stakeholders is nothing short of the truth.

In conclusion, Basil introduced SAHCO as a Publicly Listed Aviation Ground Handling Service provider that is present in all the commercially operated Airports in Nigeria and is involved in activities that includes Passenger Handling, Ramp Handling, Cargo Handling and Warehousing, Aviation Security, Premium Lounge services amongst other aviation related services.