Nigerian elected ICAO Council President
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has announced the election of Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu of Nigeria as the new President of the ICAO Council.
Dr Aliu’s election by acclamation was confirmed when the 36 states which comprise ICAO’s Governing Council registered their unanimous agreement during the body’s 200th Session in Montreal, Canada.
A statement issued by Sue-Ann Rapattoni, ICAO’s Communications Associate and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said Dr Aliu would officially take over the reins as ICAO Council President beginning January 1, 2014, for a three-year term.
“I am very grateful to my distinguished colleagues on the ICAO Council for their support and recognition,” Dr Aliu said.
He said aviation faced many challenges but its role in expanding tourism and market access had never been more important to modern society and to the local, regional and global economic players who rely so significantly today on safe and dependable air transport connectivity.
“I will look forward to working with my Council colleagues over the next triennium, with the support of the ICAO Air Navigation Commission and Secretariat, as we seek to address aviation’s key areas of priority,” Dr Aliu said.
It said prior to his election as its President, Dr Aliu served for eight years as the ICAO Council’s Nigerian Representative (2005-2013).
He was also Director of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s Air Transport Regulation Directorate (2000-2004), Chairman for the formulation of African Civil Aviation Policy under the African Union (2009-2011) and performed many other professional and technical roles in the service of his State’s civil aviation sector over the past three decades.
The statement said Dr Aliu followed the departing Council President, Roberto Kobeh González of Mexico, who was elected in March 2006 after Dr. Assad Kotaite retired prematurely before the end of his term.
It said Kobeh took up his functions in August 2006 and was re-elected for consecutive full terms of Office in 2007 and 2010.
“It has been my great pleasure to help lead ICAO and support international aviation during the last seven years,” Kobeh commented. “Having known and worked beside Dr. Aliu for much of this period, I am very pleased that the leadership of the Council will now be in such capable hands. Dr. Aliu’s broad diplomatic perspective and demonstrated skills at consensus-building will be essential to the success of ICAO’s continuing mission.”
The statement noted that: “Aliu becomes only the fifth President of the ICAO Council in the almost 70-year history of the specialized United Nations aviation agency, which is responsible for the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) and the over 10,000 international civil aviation standards contained in the Convention’s Annexes.”
Source: GNA