Chinelo Obogo
Professionals in the aviation sector have warned the National Assembly not to weaken the Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency as it commences a review of the Civil Aviation Act 2006.
Industry experts say that the current Civil Aviation Act 2006 does not really empower the NCAA to enforce economic regulations on airlines and organisations in the sector and canvassed for complete autonomy for the agency, saying that political interference is hindering its performance.
The National Assembly will begin the process of amending the Civil Aviation Act 2006 with a three-day public hearing on the six Executive Bills from October 20 to 22, 2020. The bills are seeking to amend certain aspects of the Acts establishing the six agencies being superintended by the Ministry of Aviation.
Among other issues, the experts who spoke on what they expect from NASS said the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge/Cargo Sales Charge (TSC/CSC), which was the main source of revenue for the NCAA before more agencies were included in the sharing, be retained and if possible improved upon so that the agency could remain strong.
A licensed Air Traffic Safety Electronics Specialist, Ifeanyi Ogochukwu, who is a former management staff of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), warned that any attempt to weaken the power of the regulatory agency may spell doom for the industry, maintaining that aviation is internationally regulated with standards.
“The economic regulation is key for NCAA to continue to discharge its duties in the sector. NCAA must have the authority to enforce and implement compliance of economic regulation of the industry. It is obvious that most of the airlines don’t have a bigger plan, people have money, they go into the business and start running an airline without structure, business plan and of course, it is bound to fail.
“Also, NCAA should have more power to regulate charter services in the Act. The agency should be empowered to carry our economic regulation of the agencies apart from the airlines, ground handlers and other organisations in the sector. NCAA is not really enforcing compliance in these agencies, but the new bill before the National Assembly should address this,” Ogochukwu said.
He also stated that the five per cent TSC/CSC collected on behalf of the other agencies by NCAA should be retained by the National Assembly in the impending public hearing by the National Assembly, stressing that training and retraining of technical staff in the agency was paramount. He also condemned political interference in the regulation of NCAA, noting that its autonomy had been on paper.
“It is very essential and critical for NCAA to be autonomous. It should not be autonomous on paper. NCAA should be able to call minister’s bluff and tell him, ‘sorry’ on some issues based on its Act. A fully autonomous NCAA can perform its functions without interference even from the presidency. It is only then that the industry will be stronger and be more respected.
“An aspect of the Act should say that ‘In case of political interference and anything happens, the minister will be held liable.’ It should be there by law. Once this is done, it will be absolutely impossible for the minister to interfere because he knows once he does that, it is a criminal offence and can be held liable,” he said.
Prof. Anthony Kila, Director, Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS) said the sector needs a new NCAA that is customer-centric, flexible and one that works in harmony with airlines and other organisations in the sector, adding that its economic regulation should be more potent with the new Act. He also canvassed for the retention of the 5 per cent TSC/CSC for the agency and others in the sector, stressing that they required revenues to sustain safety in the system.
He said: “For the economic regulation, the essence of this is to make sure that customers are not stranded, no matter who runs the airlines. The reason they should be sound economically and safe technically is to make sure our sky is safe.
“A good economic regulation should not be the one that will make life unnecessarily difficult, but work with them to ensure that it is sustained. That means you have to look at the cost of insurances for airlines, regime of paying for landing and parking for airlines.
“Government needs revenues to sustain itself. We should understand that nobody pays happily, but it is a necessity to pay those charges. Don’t forget that our industry is an international sector that the fees are not just made locally, but they have to reflect around the world. When you look at what happens around the world, you should also look at the cost of operations for the airlines so that we don’t end up comparing Nigeria to Saudi Arabia.”