Mohammed Uba Salisu
MOHAMMED SALISU: OPENING NEW VISTA
Mohammed Uba Salisu, chief executive officer, Harka Air Services Limited, is a daring man. He is never afraid to venture into something new. This, perhaps, accounted for his first choice of profession, the airforce. Added to this are the special circumstances of the opportunity of having lived in the military barracks as a young child. He trained in the Nigerian military school and the Nigerian Defence Academy. Salisu had a brilliant military career that climaxed with his appointment as deputy defence attache to the Nigerian Embassy, Moscow in defunct Soviet Union between 1986 and 1990.
Luckily for Salisu when his career in the airforce ended rather abruptly, he tapped the contacts he made while working in the USSR to pursue his next but similar career, the airline business. His friends in the USSR linked him up with Aeroflot and he thus pioneered the use of Eastern Europe-made aircraft in Nigeria's aviation industry. Today, many other Nigerian airlines have followed the trail he blazed in this respect.
Harka Air Services has its operations targeted at all classes of passengers especially corporate organisations and business people. He sees his airline's competitive edge in terms of the simplistic ways of addressing industry issues such as prudence and cost reduction to the barest minimum so that the airlines ticket are competitively priced. Moreover, they use small bodied aircraft which are very reliable, cost effective and enhance realistic operations.
Salisu believes in delegating authority to subordinates, but he supervises their activities. He says he is lucky to have reliable and trustworthy staff. He trains his staff adequately as he sees training and opportunity going hand in hand. The unassuming aviation mogul commends the existence of an avenue for interaction with the aviation authorities and the improvement in aviation aids, which is better than the situation a few years ago. He calls for their continued maintenance. But he still insists that Nigerian pilots operate under more severe social conditions than their counterparts abroad who enjoy advanced landing aid facilities.
Among the problems challenging the aviation industry is the cost of procuring aircraft and the poor attitude of Nigeria's finance industry to the aviation industry which, to him, must change. Another problem is the non-cooperation between airlines to solve common problems and provide better services. He believes Nigeria should sort out its political problem before the year 2,000 by solving the differences between the political class, traditional rulers and the military, before our economic problems can be satisfactorily solved. Salisu believes in honesty and destiny. God, he says, never gives mankind a problem that he cannot solve. He is married and blessed with four children. He loves football, watching documentaries and reading.
Newswatch June 29, 1998
" Newswatch 1998