Nigeria replaces aviation minister after crash

ABUJA, Nov 2 (Reuters) President Olusegun Obasanjo replaced his aviation minister today, four days after a Nigerian passenger jet crashed killing 97 people.

No reason was given for the reshuffle, in which Babalola Borishade was redeployed to head the Culture and Tourism Ministry, and the minister of culture and tourism, Femi Fani-Kayode, was moved to aviation.

''The deployment takes immediate effect,'' said a statement from Ufot Ekaete, Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

More than 95 people, including Nigeria's Muslim spiritual leader, died on Sunday when an ADC Airlines Boeing 737 ploughed into a corn field minutes after takeoff from the capital Abuja.

Nine survived.

The crash brought to more than 300 the number killed in three major civilian Nigerian air tragedies in just over 12 months, drawing widespread outrage in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer.

The Senate, which lost two members in the crash, called for Borishade's outright resignation, saying his tenure had coincided with the worst air accidents in Nigeria's history.

Borishade rejected the calls, arguing he had no ''divine power'' to stop crashes and had been given the job to reform the sector. President Olusegun Obasanjo criticised Nigeria's aviation parastatals as ''corrupt from top to bottom'' last year.

On October 22 last year, 117 people died when a Bellview Airlines Boeing 737 ploughed into the countryside shortly after takeoff from the commercial capital Lagos.

Seven weeks later, a Sosoliso Airlines DC9 crashed on landing in southeastern oil hub of Port Harcourt, killing 106 people, half of them children on their way home from boarding school for the Christmas break.

REUTERS PDM BST2158