The failure of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to carry out safety and economic audits on domestic airlines, Nigerian airports and the industry as a whole, has been blamed for the woes besetting the sector.
Some of the shortcomings identified include failure to address ticket and cargo sales charges, poor financial and safety audit of the airlines, leading to the takeover of Arik Air and Aero Contractors by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, (AMCON), failure to sanction airlines as at when due, and failure to repair and maintain Abuja airport before now.
The Civil Aviation Act of 2016 empowers the NCAA to regulate aviation safety without political interference and to carry out oversight functions of the airports, airspace, meteorological services, as well as economic regulations of the industry.
However, recent developments shaping the aviation sector are raising questions from industry players as to how well the NCAA is carrying out its functions as the industry regulator.
“No doubt, the NCAA has failed in the areas of economic regulation oversight. For example, the NCAA is yet to address as basic an issue as the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) which have dragged on in the last ten years. The NCAA’s economic oversight should not be on private operators alone but on all operators, including government agencies,” says John Ojikutu, former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA).
“Also, there are a number of provisions under the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) which are not sufficiently being implemented. They include insurance on airlines, airports and aeronautical facilities,” Ojikutu adds.
Ojikutu told BusinessDay in a telephone interview, that:“The passiveness of the NCAA on oversight of safety and economic regulations can be blamed for the recurring debts of the airlines and the lack of funds by government operators to do periodic maintenance on the runways, as well as for the failure of the airlines themselves to pay insurance liabilities to accident victims and many more,”.
Ojikutu said that if the NCAA does not rise up to its responsibilities, the nation’s aviation industry is going to continue to struggle and more airlines will fail.”
A key part of the NCAA regulation is to monitor the financial health of airlines but many industry players say this is not being done.
Part 18.10.3 of the NCAA regulations demands that “all Nigerian licensed airlines shall submit to the authority on a monthly basis, all financial data and records on their operations in the form and manner as may be prescribed by the Authority.”
The NCAA is also mandated to evaluate the financial returns and make a copy of the report of the financial health assessment to the management of the airline, which may make representation to the NCAA.
Industry operators say that if the NCAA were living up to its responsibilities, it would have grounded the operations of First Nation Airlines, instead of the airline itself making the voluntary decision to do so weeks back, after it ran into difficulties with aircraft maintenance.
Another evidence of the NCAA not meeting its responsibilities, is the disclosure by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, (AMCON) that the old management of Arik Air operated without spare tyres and other important equipment necessary to facilitate its operations.
An aviation consultant who craved anonymity, told BusinessDay that thorough economic regulation is not being done in the light of obvious evidence.
“Arik Air would not have become what it is today if the NCAA did not show laxity on economic audit. For six months Arik Air was not able to pay salaries or to structure its finances appropriately but the NCAA never sanctioned the airline for this.
“Abuja airport was becoming a safety risk but it took the minister of aviation to intervene in the closure of the airport. The NCAA had the power to issue an order for the airport to be repaired or else stop flight operations there but they never did this,” the consultant said.
Dong Pam, chairman, Governing Board of the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) told BusinessDay that most of the airlines were not sending their economic data to the NCAA, which translates to the NCAA being totally oblivious of the financial status of the airlines.
“For example if the operating cost of a Boeing 737 is $4,000 and you need 80 passengers on a 120 seater aeroplane to be able to realise $4,000 the NCAA will need the airline’s operational data to know it is breaking even. If they are operating at a loss, there are chances that they will cut down on maintenance.
“If airlines operate at a loss, they may not pay salaries on time; as a result, staff will become disgruntled at work. If this happens, staff may start falsifying records on fuel and spare parts, amongst others. This development will become very dangerous and unsafe for the aircraft operations and the passengers that fly it.
“Also, there is a maximum limit a pilot flies in a month, which is 100 hours. We have had cases where airlines encourage pilots to fly more than 100 hours a month in a bid to pay them extra and cut down on the cost of employing more pilots. These illegal limits are not written in the books submitted to the NCAA. When pilots get overworked or feel sleepy while controlling the flight, it leads to degradation in performance leading to air crash,” Pam added.
An operator who also craved anonymity said, “If the NCAA had lived up to its oversight responsibility, some of the challenges we have witnessed this year would not have occurred. They occurred because, most airlines depended on their political partners in government to get concessions for them, for the period their party was in power but now everyone has to operate according to the rules; government and private operators and the regulator.”
IFEOMA OKEKE
