Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd.), an aviation consultant, has revealed that airlines are suffering in the country because the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) doesn’t only serve as a body setting up policies for the sector, but the same also executing the policy.
In an interview cited by BizWatch Nigeria, where he made this submission, Ojikutu lamented that in spite of the Federal Government’s (FG) intervention, the aviation industry has been on a downward spiral in recent years.
“What’s the reason behind the intervention? The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is there to oversee the industry. The ministry’s responsibility is to draw out policy guidelines for the civil aviation authority to provide regulations. That is the way the job is separated. Unfortunately, what we have seen in the last seven to eight years now is that the same ministry drawing out policies is the same body operating the policies.
“It is never done, and that is why we are where we are. The NCAA is practically doing nothing. The operators are also taking directives from the ministry. Every operator has its Act, and there is an Act for FAAN, NAMA, AIB, and others. And the Act is drawn with a policy from the ministry. So, the problem we are having now is we do not know who is regulating. For example, all the money in the industry is not recoverable. We have the intervention of 2007. How much of the intervention funds have been used or recovered between 2007 and 2022?
“Apart from the revenue the industry earns, how much have they remitted? Just last year or two years ago, they were asked to remit 25% of their earnings and they told the government it was not possible,” the consultant stated.
