The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says Nigerian local airlines are trying to cripple its operations by deliberate refusal to pay for services rendered.
The NCAA Director General, Capt. Musa Nuhu made this known on Tuesday in Abuja at a stakeholders’ meeting with all the airlines and aviation agencies.
According to the DG the local airlines owe over N19 billion and $7.6 million on ticket charges which have been collected from passengers but not remitted to the Authority.
A situation he said is crippling its finances as well as pitching the Authority against the Federal Government .
Nuhu further accused the airlines of refusing to think creatively to grow their businesses and the industry but rather targeting the NCAA with campaign of calumny and falsehoods.
On their part, the Airlines Operators of Nigeria (AON) an umbrella body for all the airlines operating in Nigerian accused the NCAA of multiple charges.
In a letter to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning. Mrs. Zainab Ahmed ,AON also said the charges occasioned with the forex crises and Jet A1 (aviation fuel) is choking the airlines to death.
,The NCAA DG however described the accusation by the airlines as unfair, unfounded and tantamount to blackmail.
Capt..Nuhu said all airlines are indebted to the NCAA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA)..He also explained that the NCAA charges the airlines just cost recovery charges as the bulk of its revenues comes from the statutory charges on air tickets, borne by customers adding that the airiness deduct the funds, add to their revenues rather than remitting same to the aviation agencies.
Nuhu said their accusations are far from the truth as comparative analysis of charges between Nigeria and Gnana shows that Ghana charges over 100 percent higher in most of the charges. He thus said the NCAA will also review its charges upwards as the Authority hasn’t reviewed charges in about 13 years in spite of rising cost of service provision.
He mandated the Airlines to in the next 30 days commit to a payment plan or be suspended.
“The airlines must enter an MoU on how they will pay their debts in the next 30 days from August 30th, 2022 or their license will be suspended at the expiration of the deadline”.
He said the aviation agencies are just as challenged as they also rely on forex to train and procure critical equipment needed to operate safely.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is also being owed over N5 billion and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is also being owed over N19 billion by the same Nigerian registered airlines.
Responding to the NCAA, the Chief Executive Officer, Skye Jet, Kashim Bukar Shettima called for amicable resolution of the issues as NCAA is also not perfect.
He said the DG should have engaged the AON privately to resolve the issues because if the AON also begins to speak, it will amount to “washing their dirty linen in the public.”
“Yes, airlines owe money but the airlines are also deeply challenged because they can’t get fuel or access dollars freely adding that they buy dollars in the black-market. “
“We mist come together to resolve our problems”.
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