Babatunde Omotoba was appointed Federal Minister of Aviation by President

Umaru Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 20 ...

on 17 December 2008. He left office in March 2010 when Acting President

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

dissolved his cabinet.

Background

Omotoba studied

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

at the University of Benin, gaining a first class degree. He worked as a Construction and Structural Engineer on several Nigerian government projects. He was a Manager at Arthur Andersen in Nigeria in the financial services, manufacturing, commercial and telecoms groups. Omotoba obtained a master's degree in

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 2003. Omotoba worked for several years after graduating from Kellogg as vice president of Smith Whiley & Company's private equity division in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...

, USA. Before being appointed Minister of Aviation, Omotoba was a director at Africa Finance Corporation, a multibillion-dollar investment fund.

Aviation minister

Omotoba was appointed Federal Minister of Aviation on 17 December 2008. In March 2009, Omotoba sacked the managing director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency and nine directors in three aviation parastatals, apparently due to concerns over handling of funds. In April 2009, he said he had reviewed all agreements the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria had signed with concessionaires and concluded that some were completely lopsided, ignoring the interests of the government. In September 2009, Omotoba was directed by the attorney-general

Michael Aondoakaa Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN (born 12 June 1962) is Nigeria's former justice minister in office from 2007 in politics, July 2007 to 10 February 2010. Background Michael Kaase Aondoakaa was born in Benue on 12 June 19 ...

to hand over the General Aviation Terminal of the old domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

) to Bi-Courteny Aviation Services Limited. Also that month, talking about the financial difficulties faced by several Nigerian airlines, Omotoba said government had not rules out any form of bail-out for the airlines. He also suggested the airlines should seriously consider mergers and alliances. He ruled out enactment of the Fly Nigeria Act as a way of supporting local airlines, saying the local carriers had to improve their safety record before the Nigerian elite would use them instead of the manor international airlines.

References

1967 births Living people Yoruba politicians Aviation ministers of Nigeria Kellogg School of Management alumni University of Benin (Nigeria) alumni Nigerian expatriates in the United States {{Nigeria-politician-stub