BREAKING: Buhari Sacks NEMA DG, Appoints AVM Muhammed As Replacement

President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, Engr. Mustapha Y. Maihaja.

       President Muhammadu Buhari

Maihaja’s four-year tenure would have elapsed by April 2021, but his time at the disaster management agency had been dogged with series of controversies.

The sacked NEMA DG had been embroiled in crisis with his local chapter of the All Progressives Congress APC as well as the House of Representatives which accused him in 2018 of mismanagement of resources as well as inefficiency.

A parliamentary committee was put in place to investigate the release of N5.9 billion Food Intervention in the North-east, N3.1 billion Food Intervention in the same region, release of N1.6 billion for Libyan returnees, release of N1.6 billion Flood Intervention for 16 states and donation of 6,779 Metric Tons of rice by the Chinese Government.

However, a statement issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation OSGF, said “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of AVM Muhammadu Alhaji Muhammed (Rtd.) as the new Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)”.

According to the statement, the appointment took effect from Thursday, 30th April 2020, for an initial period of 4 years in accordance with Section 3 of the National Emergency Management Agency Act.

“The erstwhile Director General, Engr. Mustapha Y. Maihaja has been directed to handover all official matters to AVM Muhammadu Alhaji Muhammed (Rtd.) immediately.

“The President thanked the out-gone Director-General for his services and charged the new appointee to serve with diligence and commitment”.

Coronavirus: British Airways To Sack 12,000 Employees

British Airways is to make up to 12,000 staff redundant in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline has cut 94 per cent of its flights and its parent company, IAG, lost almost half a billion pounds in the first three months of 2019, with much heavier losses expected.

As a result, British Airways has begun consulting with unions representing pilots, cabin crew and ground-based staff over redundancies for almost 30 per cent of employees in future.

The scale of the proposed redundancies indicate that British Airways intends to trim its flying schedule by one-quarter.

Cuts are likely to be more substantial at Gatwick than at BA’s main base, Heathrow.

Alex Cruz, BA’s chief executive and chairman, said: “Yesterday, British Airways flew just a handful of aircraft out of Heathrow. On a normal day we would fly more than 300. What we are facing as an airline, like so many other businesses up and down the country, is that there is no ‘normal’ any longer.

“Our very limited flying schedule means that revenues are not coming into our business.

“In the last few weeks, the outlook for the aviation industry has worsened further and we must take action now. We are a strong, well-managed business that has faced into, and overcome, many crises in our hundred-year history. We must overcome this crisis ourselves, too.

“We do not know when countries will reopen their borders or when the lockdowns will lift, and so we have to reimagine and reshape our airline and create a new future for our people, our customers and the destinations we serve.

“We have informed the government and the trade unions of our proposals to consult over a number of changes, including possible reductions in headcount.”

British Airways has furloughed nearly 23,000 staff under the government’s Job Retention Scheme.

IAG, which includes Aer Lingus, Iberia of Spain and the low-cost carrier, Vueling, said: “Recovery to the level of passenger demand in 2019 is expected to take several years, necessitating group-wide restructuring measures.”

Mr Cruz said: “There is no government bail-out standing by for BA and we cannot expect the taxpayer to offset salaries indefinitely.

“Any money we borrow now will only be short-term and will not address the longer-term challenges we will face.”