Director of Air Transport Regulation of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Group Captain (rtd), Edem Oyo-Ita, has accused Nigerian airlines of failing to honour service agreements.
Oyo-Ita also said the airlines owe service providers as well as the NCAA. He spoke at the African Continental Free Trade Area implementation engagement series for the aviation industry which held virtually on Thursday.
He also said the airlines were found not submitting financial reports which would allow the regulatory body streamline their activities and offer the much-needed advice for growth.
He said, “To be effective in the AFCFTA, they (airlines) should be able to honour service agreements. For instance, many of the local airlines are owing service providers and reluctantly refusing to pay up. We at the NCAA get a lot of reports that the fuel marketers are being owed, ground handlers are being owed over the years.
“Even the NCAA, the airlines are owing us. So they should try and meet some of these service agreements. They are also reluctant to submit issues like financial health reports which in essence should help the management of the airlines and check some activities going on in the backyard.”
He added, “They are only interested in meeting operational safety requirements but when you ask airlines to submit financial health reports, some of them are reluctant. NCAA is supposed to support, advise and point out some of the issues that might help airlines to grow. These are some of the challenges that airlines should address.”
Similarly, the director told airlines to address issues relating to operational capacity in terms of capacity to address serviceable equipment, and standby equipment to meet their demands, so that they can regain passenger confidence and avoid cancelled flights.
He lamented that the existing regulations did not affect these issues but expressed optimism ahead of the new act which would allow the body to monitor the airlines’ activities properly.
Also speaking at the event, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, called for special support for the aviation industry. He said the ministry was fast-tracking a systems upgrade in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, PortHarcourt and Enugu with the view to matching international best standards.
He said Abuja and Port Harcourt had undergone the upgrade and would soon be put to use while Kano’s upgrade was ready to be utilised in March.
