Criticisms won't stop me, says Stella Oduah

Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, has said she would mot be deterred by criticisms in her determination to improve the lots of the Nigerian  aviation industry.

Oduah said that apart from the political side to her ordeals, 'entrenched interests in the aviation sector which have been ripping off the sector in the past 38 years had held back the sector and stifling its development' were behind orchestrated attempts to dent her hard-earned image and reputation.

The Minister spoke to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday.
She said she would not abandon the transformation agenda she was pursuing in the Aviation sector because of the antics of her traducers so that Nigerians could derive maximum benefits from her struggle.

She said, “For the over 38 years that our airports were a damning commentary on our status as part of the civilised world; or when our airspace existed without the requisite navigational facilities to make the airspace safe; these category of persons saw no evil and heard no evil while they happily clapped their ways to the banks!

'This group has carried on with bitter venom, throwing decency and honour overboard, lying and misleading the Nigerian populace even when they know the truth because my team and I changed the game in favour of Nigeria attaining her pride of place in the comity of nations.

'For this category, that is the entrenched, corrupt and profligate individuals and entities who have caused the serious rot in the aviation sector, I owe no apologies.

'All I owe them is to further inform them that the current generation has seen through them and are no longer willing to tolerate their antics.'

The Minister who preferred not to comment on the controversial armoured cars saga, said the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan had changed the ways of doing things significantly in the country.

She said, 'The massive investment and the aggressive prosecution of this agenda in this regard have seen the Aviation sector being transformed. Today, 22 airports owned by the Federal Government are at various stages of becoming decent and world class terminals.

'Nigeria's airspace has become one of the safest in the world with the deployment of modern navigational equipment and infrastructures. The oversight capacity of the whole sector has been strengthened with the relevant regulations in place and the training and retraining of personnel.'