Nigerian airlines are owing the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) over N19 billion and $7.8 million on the statutory 5% Ticket Sales Charge and Cargo Sales Charge (TSC/CSC).
This was disclosed by the NCAA through its Director-General, Capt. Musa Nuhu, during a stakeholder meeting held with indigenous airlines and ground handling companies in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to him, the airlines are also indebted to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to the tune of N18 billion and N5 billion, respectively putting the total debt to aviation agencies at N42 billion and $7.8 million.
What NCAA is saying about debt
He said, “The airlines owe FAAN landing and parking charges, while they are also hugely indebted to NAMA in terminal and navigational charges. If the debts owed the agencies were not paid back immediately the aviation organisations may collapse very soon.”
Nuhu also gave the operators one-month ultimatum to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NCAA, which would stipulate the repayment plans of their debts to the agency.
Nuhu expressed disappointment over a letter, which emanated from the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), signed by Alhaji Abdulmunaf Yunusa, the President of AON, dated August 8, 2022, and addressed to Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation that accused the agencies, especially the NCAA of muscling out the operators through multiple charges.
Nuhu who noted that the airlines and the entire aviation industry were going through a very difficult period, especially at this time, insisted that all the charges collected by NCAA were statutorily and in compliance with the Civil Aviation Act 2006.
According to him, the airlines were not responsible for the payment of TSC/CSC, but only collect such on behalf of the agencies from the passengers and wondered why the operators would accuse it of engaging in multiple levies.
The NCAA boss said, “NCAA relies 100 per cent on its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). The 5 per cent TSC paid by passengers is 85 per cent of NCAA revenue, while the other 15 per cent comes from airlines as payment for services provided and they are all cost recovery. We don’t also impose any excess baggage charge on the airlines. I wonder where the operators saw this.
“The airlines have intentionally refused to pay the debts owed us despite the fact that they have collected such from the passengers. The airlines collect money and refuse to transmute such to the right authorities. AON wants us to provide services for free for them. What the airlines are trying to do is to defunct NCAA. You have refused to give us our legitimate money. The fees we are charging the airlines are just cost recovery and we are actually subsidising the airlines.”
Also, Engr. Mathew Pwajok, the Acting Managing Director of NAMA, reiterated that the charges of the agency were minimal when compared to other countries around the world.
He, however, disclosed that the airlines owed them over N5 billion for services rendered to them over the years.
Also, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu of FAAN, also disclosed that the airlines owe the agency N18 billion and debunked the claim that it charges the airlines indiscriminately as claimed in its letter.
He declared that FAAN was not imposing any new burden on the airlines, stressing that its landing and parking charges for international operators were last reviewed in 1998, while for the local airlines, it was reviewed last in 2002.
He said that there was a need for the charges to be reviewed by the agency, stressing that within the period, the airlines had reviewed their air tickets on numerous occasions.
In case you missed it
- Nairametrics had reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria released the sum of $265 million with a portion of it going to settle trapped funds belonging to foreign airlines.
- $230 million of the intervention fund, reports say, is to tackle FX intervention while another sum of $35 million was released through Retail SMIS auction to clear outstanding ticket sales.
- The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and his team are said to be concerned about the trapped funds and the implications for the industry and the economy at large
