1 week ago
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LAGOS – Multiple charges by government agencies in the Nigerian aviation industry is militating growth of indigenous in the country.
In a bid to change the current narration, the Federal Government has been called upon to address the various challenges confronting the sub-sector
Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, the Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines stated these yesterday during the fourth-year celebration of the airline.
Okonkwo explained that the government needed to cut down on the charges the operators pay to different government agencies, saying that the margin of airline business was low.
He maintained that if the airlines were to meet all the charges to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the operators would be left without any amount of money in their coffers.
He insisted that the airlines required more money to be able to develop, expand and improve the working environment for their staff.
Okonkwo, however, noted that the forex policy of President Bola Tinubu had been of tremendous advantage to the airline sub-sector, while also providing some relief to business organisations in the country.
He further stated that the domestication of the Cape Town Convention (CTC) practise by the Federal Government had helped to reduce cost of operations in the industry.
He said: “They need to cut down on the charges the operators pay different agencies of government, in all they are about 20. The margin of this business is very low and if you have to meet all those charges to NCAA, NAMA, FAAN, you are left with nothing. It’s affecting us, we need to have more money to be able to develop, expand and then also improve the working environment for our staff.
“I think that the foreign policy of the Tinubu administration has been of tremendous advantage to the airline industry. Before he came into power, it was a nightmare for us to be able to convert naira to foreign currencies to pay our obligations. We lost a whole lot of contracts. We lost a lot of vendors.
“Because you have your money stuck in naira in the bank, and you don’t get the forex that you need. You can’t even go and help yourself somewhere. So, it’s a different story. You don’t need to track funds like l mentioned for the foreign operators, the government has cleared that, almost a billion US dollars.”
Okonkwo pointed out that the foreign exchange policy of the government had opened up a new window for better relationships and business for Nigeria, while the country’s reputation and integrity in the international aviation industry had improved.
He, however, decried the attitude of some of the Nigeria’s passengers, describing their unruly behaviour as the biggest challenge to the operators.
According to him, the passengers over-emphasised the issues of delays, maintaining that flight delays happen in any part of the world.
He said: “We overbend ourselves as operators to please them. We often do beyond what local flight operators do in any part of the world to satisfy our passengers, but despite all that their attitudes and behaviours put a lot of stress on the operators.
“Sometimes our staff are beaten up and our equipment destroyed at the airports.”
Besides, Okonkwo restated the call for the government to create a special window for airlines to access funds at a reduced rate.
He expressed that one thing that would help the growth of this industry was for the government to develop the programme that would give the window access to local operators to a single-digit loan.
Besides, Mazi Osita Okonkwo, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), United Nigeria Airlines, said the airline had opened more routes across the country stating that it had added Benin, Kano and Sokoto to its growing routes.
According to him, UNA recently renewed its certificate while plans are at an advanced stage for commencement of its regional and international operations.
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