The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is appealing to the Federal Government to rescind its decision to increase its direct deductions to 40 per cent from 2021, which will translate into a revenue shortfall of N16 billion on overhead cost.
Its Managing Director, Capt Rabiu Yadudu, made the appeal in Abuja at a media briefing.
According to him, such hike in deductions will hurt its operations, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted flights globally, leading to horrible slump in revenue for airport authorities
Yadudu said that the FAAN management was engaging the Federal Government to exempt her from this deduction. “It should be noted that ICAO’s recommendation in Doc. 9562 stipulates that revenue generated by airports be transparently re-invested wholly in operating and developing airport facilities, he added.
He noted that the management would explore every legitimate window to source funds to deliver services in line with international standards.
He said: “Our revenue is down by over 95 per cent. So, you must do what you can legitimately do to deliver the services and of same quality. “We are cutting costs where necessary to ensure excellent service delivery and not compromise on safety and security. We need to continue sustaining our operations.
“FAAN has not increased PSC since 2011, despite all the huge capital investments at our airports. The current PSC charge of N1, 000 is no longer realistic as it does not correlate with realities of cost related inflation rate which the CBN has put at 12.82%. Besides, FAAN, until late 2019, was collecting the naira equivalent of PSC at an official rate of N305.50-N344.38 to a dollar when airlines were collecting at subsisting market rate of about N362 to a dollar.
On international flights resumption, the FAAN boss said: “we are ready for it. All the protocols are in place. The number of airlines will be determined by the NCAA and other relevant authorities.
