The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, on Thursday debunked insinuations in the social media of a rift between him and the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi.
Sirika made the clarification when he hosted members of the Abuja Transport/Aviation Correspondents (ATACA) in Abuja.
“Just recently, the social media wrote that I and the Minister of Transportation, who are friends, and whom I have known for many years, are quarrelling.
“That the government of Buhari is about to come down because Amaechi and I are quarrelling; this is really absurd and I don’t think this is the way to go forward.”
He advised journalists to be objective in their reporting, reminding them of their role as watchdogs of society.
“The job of a journalist is to tell the truth; not to imagine or create some things that never existed so that your paper and story will sell.”
Sirika further said that his pictures were not hanged at the airport because it was his choice that all his pictures be removed at the airport and the ministry.
“The fact that my photos are not shown in any airport was by my own personal choice; when we came in, they had my photos everywhere in the airport and I asked them to remove them.
“What I believe is that my photos will merit to be hanged on the walls of government and public places when I succeed to resolve, to re-engineer, to re-create and reposition the aviation industry and make it a very convenient place for business and I have generally added value to the industry, then you can hang my photos.
“I saw it as trivial and unnecessary and I asked them to remove it; but the social media went ahead saying we are fighting over whose pictures to put or not to put.”
The minister said that the ministry was ready to partner with the association in projecting its vision and policies to the public.
Earlier, the Chairman of the association, Mr Chris Agabi, said that the purpose of the visit was to engender vibrant partnership with the ministry by projecting its activities through regular media interface.
Agabi expressed confidence that Nigeria’s aviation industry would take its rightful place in Africa with the appointment of a professional aviator as a minister.
