All is not well presently within the management of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) over the agency’s present Managing Director, Saleh Dunoma’s sit tight agenda occasioned by a tenure elongation.
Engr. Dunoma, who was appointed as Managing Director by Ex-President Jonathan led administration in March 2014 joined the Civil Engineering Department of the defunct Nigeria Airports Authority in 1980, the NAA metamorphosed into the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and that is clearly 37 years ago as against civil service rules that stipulated 35 years in service.
Engr. Saleh Dunoma, who graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Building Engineering in 1979 from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has had a brief stint in the public and private sectors respectively before being employed by the then Nigeria Airports Authority.
Although searches by National Infinity Magazine, could not verify his age, but it was obvious he could not have graduated at the age of 17 in 1979 leading to speculations that the FAAN Boss could have violated both age and number of years in service as stipulated in civil service rules.
By the civil service rules, a civil servant is deemed to be due for retirement after clocking 35 years in service or at the age of 60 depending on which one comes first.
Before his present position, Dunoma has served the Authority in various sensitive capacities. At various times, he acted as Airport Manager Kaduna Airport and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport respectively. In 2000 he was appointed substantive Airport Manager, Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Abuja, a position he held until he was reassigned in 2005 to the newly created Directorate of Aviation Security & Safety as the General Manager (Technology & Capacity Building).
His tenure at FAAN has not been without its hitches, in 2016, SaharaReporters reported that
“Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) discovered at least N3 billion in the various bank accounts of the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Saleh Dunoma, an engineer.
SaharaReporters’ investigations also revealed that Mr. Dunoma owns a house and shopping mall in Dubai as well as a hotel in Singapore. The assets are being managed by one of his two children.
A source close to the agency exclusively told SaharaReporters that the EFCC discovered the funds in Mr. Dunoma’s accounts when it carried out a security screening on him.
Curiously though, Mr. Dunoma was given a clean bill of health by the EFCC despite a slew of evidence of corrupt practices found against him.
Mr. Dunoma, sources said, owes the clean bill of health to the sum of N750m he gave as bribes to EFCC officials, top guns in the Ministry of Transport, Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, and some officials in the Presidency.
“How can someone who has been a civil servant all his life come about N3 billion in his accounts, properties in Dubai and Singapore and yet, was cleared by EFCC? That’s the part of the corruption we are talking about,” a source said.
