President Halimah Yacob has conferred the Public Service Star (Distinguished Friends of Singapore) on Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador and former President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).  This was in recognition of his leadership and contributions to the development of the global civil aviation industry, and his work with Singapore on various international civil aviation initiatives.

During Dr Aliu’s tenure as President of the ICAO Council from 2014 to 2019, several significant initiatives were introduced to enhance global civil aviation regulatory standards and practices in the areas of safety, air navigation capacity and efficiency, security and facilitation, economic development of air transport, and environmental protection, and civil aviation human resource development.

Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, presented the award to Dr Aliu at a ceremony yesterday evening, 15 March 2022.

“Dr Aliu has played a significant role in shaping the global civil aviation system during his tenure as President of the ICAO Council and prior to that, as Nigeria’s Representative on the Council of the ICAO. The initiatives he introduced have helped the ICAO and the global civil aviation community deal effectively with many complex and challenging issues. Notably, Dr Aliu championed the No Country Left Behind programme to ensure all States have access to the socio-economic benefits of safe and reliable aviation. Dr Aliu also played an instrumental role in ICAO’s establishment of a global market-based measure, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), to control carbon emissions from international civil aviation – the first for global industry sectors. Dr Aliu also incepted the development of the first ICAO Global Aviation Security Plan in 2017 as well as in prioritising technological innovation and its critical importance to ensuring sustainable air transport progress. Dr Aliu led ICAO to develop the Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS) and set up the Conflict Zone Information Repository.  Singapore is honoured to have worked closely with Dr Aliu on various civil aviation initiatives, and in human resource development, including training programmes for young aviation professionals, even to this day,” said Mr Iswaran.

Dr Aliu expressed his gratitude to President Halimah Yacob, Minister Iswaran, and the Government of Singapore for conferring him this prestigious award. He said, “I wish to congratulate your great country on its numerous achievements in the aviation sector and for its immense contributions to international cooperation. I am humbled by the honour and recognition accorded to me on your 56th National Day and I extremely cherish the friendship and invaluable support that your administration has always extended to me over the years. I assure you that this award is a great motivation and encouragement to continue to dedicate myself to the development of international civil aviation, and I look forward to our continuing collaboration in the years ahead. I am further pleased to share this award with the many colleagues and aviation professionals that worked closely with me at ICAO and are making invaluable contributions globally, to ensure that international civil aviation remains safe, secure, efficient and sustainable for future generations.”