Chinedu Eze
Industry stakeholders have lauded the appointment of Mrs. Olatokunbo Adenike Fagbemi as the new Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (nahco aviance).
Mrs. Fagbemi took over effective December 20, 2018, following the resignation of Mr. Idris Yakubu, the erstwhile Managing Director.
The company said Fagbemi’s appointment was to drive the new group structure announced by the company.
Executive Director, Zenith Travels, Olu Ohunayo commended the appointment and said that the company made the right choice, noting that Mrs. Fagbemiis an experienced industry hand with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) certification and well known Airport Council International (AC) facilitator.
“A thoroughbred professional most importantly is her knowledge of the tripod in the industry which are unions, government and pressure groups.
Her appointment should finally cement the leadership juggling that has characterised the organisation after an internal petition led to the visitation by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The major task before her is settling the staff rumblings; stop the financial bleeding orchestrated by investments in non allied business whose bearing is tangential to corporate core competence. Also she will be saddled with getting funds to improve facilities and processes that will attract and return some of their clients. Sahcol the other licenced competitor needs to brace for the unavoidable impact I must confess,” Ohunayo said.
The stakeholders said Mrs. Fagbemi is thoroughly experienced “having worked with civil aviation authorities and ground handling companies in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone unlike the immediate past MD/CEO who was a banker and had no knowledge whatsoever of how to run an aviation company.
A company shareholder, Taiwo Oyerinde, told THISDAY that the immediate past Managing Director being a former banker, did not know what aviation was all about.
Another of the shareholders of the company, Shehu Mallam Mikail said that the organisation was not getting the result it expected so it went for “an accomplished aviator and with her, the story of NAHCO will turn around positively.”
“Very grounded woman; a good and proper appointment. Wishing her and NAHCO organization a very hearty congratulations,” said Mikail.
A NAHCO official alleged that the former Managing Director so personalized governance “to the point that when he was not around, nothing got done. The acting MD in his absence was not allowed to make any approval, only to relate all requests, including emergency ones to him abroad.”
The company said all NAHCO’s subsidiary companies, including NAHCO Free Zone (NFZ), Nahco Energy and Power (EPI) and Mainland Cargo Options Limited (MCO), would report directly to the new GMD/CEO.
“She will implement the new strategic plan, operationalise a seamless and harmonised group structure which will transform NAHCO into one of the best companies in the world. The new GMD will focus on improving customer experience, drive stakeholder value, enhance shareholders’ investment in the Company, integrate and closely monitoring of the activities of the subsidiaries to create synergies and better returns on capital,” the company said.
