Mr President Muhammadu Buhari, Sir, it is a thing of great joy to all Nigerians that your administration has fulfilled its promises to the aviation industry with the establishment of the Advanced Aircraft Laboratory Engineering Agency. The establishment of this agency is indeed an indellible achievement of the present administration in its avowed commitment to reform and improve on the infrastructural base of Nigeria’s aviation industry to bring it in tune to recent development in the aviation sector all over the world to make the industry in Nigeria compete with the best all over the world.
As desirable as the establishment of the Advanced Aircraft Laboratory Engineering Agency is to the aviation industry in Nigeria, the siting of the agency in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state, is not the best of decisions recently reached by your administration. As one who wishes this administration well and bouyed by patroitic zeal out of the love for my country, I wish to appeal that the singular decision of siting this laboratory agency in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state, should advisably be rescinded.
The reasons for this advise, Mr.President, are not far fetched and they include but are not limited to the following patroitic reasons.
It is better that this agency should have been cited in Zaria, Kaduna state due to its proximity to many of the nation’s aviation infrastructure and establishments such as the Nigerian Aviation School, the National Aviation Development Agency, ,etc.
The proximity of these established and entrenched aviation infrastructure of our country all situated in Zaria, would bring the necessary inter-agencies synergy and co-operation in the aviation industry for the common good and development of our nation.
Today, and regrettably so, the security situation in Zamfara state is worrisome to all in the country and even in the international community.The rate of banditry and other criminal activities being witnessed in Zamfara state has made the citing of this agency in the state today not the best decision.
Zaria has for so long been recognised because of its peaceful nature and as the aviation hub of our nation. Zaria is a place that is convincingly recognised as a town that has all the raw materials needed in the aviation industry to make the Advanced Aircraft Laboratory Agency successful and its mandate redeemably achievable within a very short time to the glory of your administration’s reforms in the aviation industry.
Your administration, our dear president, has preached about a new type of politics where merit would never be sacrificed on the altar of political expediencies, and the citing of the Advanced Aircraft Laboratory Engineering Agency should not be an exception. Today, the masses of this country know you as a leader who unapologetically listens to wise counsel by admitting when it has made a faulty decision and not afraid to rescind such a decision.The citting of this agency in Zaria rather than Gusau should not be an exception.
The Advanced Aircraft Laboratory Engineering Agency as one of the tools deployed in the aviation industry is the first in this part of the world. We appreciate the efforts this administration has made in the reform of the sector and we think politics should never, ust as it has never, been a part of the consideration of your administration, especially in the citing of critical agencies like the subject we are discussing in this open letter.
The aviation sector would be better for it if it is totally reformed as this administration is doing today. We totally agree with you, Sir, that the time for the Advanced Aircraft Laboratory Engineering Agency’s establishment has come.
The Advanced Aircraft Engineering Laboratory Agency is, indeed, a welcome development. It is a veritable asset for the aviation industry and its conception and implementation would no doubt reassure the international community of the country’s seriousness in the development of its aviation industry.
We commend you, Sir, our president for matching your promises with actions, especially as you have shown that your administration is an aviation friendly one. Indeed, we believe also that Zamfara state which is a part and parcel of the Federal Republic of Nigeria deserves to be allocated projects that would boost the living standard of its people and our advice against the siting of this laboratory is not given out of malice for the state but sincerely out of patroitic zeal for our country.
Mr.President Sir, your laudable initiatives in the aviation sector which have transformed the nation’s aviation industry to one of the best in the world is there for all to see. We therefore implore you to kindly listen to this plea in the nation’s interest by rescinding the decision of siting of the Advanced Aircraft Engineering Laboratory Agency in Gusau, Zamfara state be relocated to Zaria ,Kaduna state.
We wish you to succeed and you will, our amiable president.
Long live Mr President!
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!
Wada writes from Abuja.
