President Muhammadu Buhari has sacked the Director General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Professor Sani Abubakar Mashi, and appointed Professor Bako Mansur Matazu as his replacement.

Also sacked is the Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Capt Abdulsalam Mohammed who has also been replaced by Capt Modibbo Alkali Mahmud. Though reasons for Mashi’s sack were not contained in a statement released by the Spokesman of the Aviation Ministry, Dr James Odaudu, Daily Sun gathered that the man had been severally invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over opaque financial transactions.

The new NIMET boss, Professor Matazu holds a PhD in Geography (Applied Meteorology), with membership of the Nigerian Environmental Society, African Forestry Forum, Nigerian Meteorological Society, the Climate Change Network, Nigeria and the renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Nigeria (REEN).

He was, until his appointment, the General Manager, Meteorological Research in the agency.

Also, the new NCAT Rector holds the Airline Transport Pilot Licenses of the Federal Aviation Administration, USA, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Embraer, Citation and other international professional certifications. Until his appointment, Captain Modibbo had served in various capacities, including Pilot in Training, Fleet Captain at Dornier Aviation Nigeria, Max Air and other organisations and has clocked about 6000 hours of flying career.

In a related development, the President has also approved the reappointment of Mr Akin Olateru, as the Commissioner / Chief Executive Officer of the Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria.

An aircraft maintenance engineer with Nigerian, UK and USA licenses, Olateru began his career in engineering maintenance with Pan African Airlines and the Nigerian Police Air Wing after which he left Nigeria for further studies abroad. (Daily Sun)

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