Jubilation as Nigeria’s Aliu gets re-elected as president of ICAO
– Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu has been re-elected for a second three-year term
– Aliu is the president of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
– Aliu stressed that he would use his renewed mandate to drive further progress in ICAO
Nigeria’s Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu was re-elected by acclamation yesterday, November 21 for a second three-year term as president of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Dr Aliu first assumed the office of ICAO Council president on January 1, 2014, having been elected by acclamation by the ICAO Council following the completion of the mandate of the previous president, Mr Roberto Kobeh González.
Prior to this, Dr Aliu served as the representative of Nigeria on the ICAO Council from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2013.
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In his acceptance remarks, Dr Aliu outlined what he and his team has achieved during his time in office, even as he stated that there is more work to be done.
His words: “Over the past three years, ICAO has been working tirelessly to promote the importance of civil aviation to socio-economic development, as well as its prioritization in national and regional investment and development planning.
“We have also made great strides in securing the assistance and capacity building our member states need most, under the ICAO No Country Left Behind initiative, and will now look forward to its next iteration which will be more focused on aviation infrastructure development.”
He continued: “The ICAO Council has played a key leadership role in this process, and its guidance will now be needed more than ever to assure the fast-tracked development of the new ICAO Global Aviation Security Plan (GASeP) endorsed at the 39th Assembly, to make ICAO’s audit processes more efficient and effective, to ensure ICAO fully optimizes its extensive audit and other data, to refine all of our programmes and priorities, and importantly to help ICAO’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) become fully operational by 2020.”
“Going forward, the ongoing pursuit of the objectives and targets under ICAO’s Global Plans for Safety and Air Navigation, the GASP and the GANP, should be complemented with added guidance to states on the operational, regulatory, training and capacity building requirements in support of the ICAO Aviation system Block Upgrades (ASBUs), both nationally and regionally. ”
Dr Aliu further stressed that he would use his renewed mandate to drive further progress on the regulatory requirements for cyber-security preparedness, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) and commercial space flights, and the development and operationalization of an Emergency Response Policy for ICAO, amongst a wide-range of further objectives for ICAO and 21st century air transport.
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On his part, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika, expressed the gratitude of the Nigerian government for the support Dr had enjoyed over the past years.
Sirika told the News Agency of Nigeria that Aliu’s re-election was a mark of recognition for his hard work and commitment to the ideals of ICAO and aspirations of the member-nations.
According to him, it is a welcome development set to further boost Nigeria’s rising profile within the international community, especially in the aviation industry.
Meanwhile, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja will be closed temporarily for rehabilitation to commence at the airport’s runway.
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