The Federal government has instituted an 11 member committee to address the lingering regulatory issues in all the airports across the country.
The committee is mandated to look into the payment of multiple charges by operators, state of infrastructure of the airports as well as the negotiation of Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA).
The minister of state, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, while inaugurating the committee at the ministry of Transportation headquarters in Abuja, explained that the inauguration is coming as a result of “the directive issued by Professor Yemi Osinbajo when he was the Acting President, to inaugurate a committee to tackle issues raised by the Airlines Operators of Nigeria (AON)”.
“Since we assumed office, there have been a lot of complains against quite of number of issues that have been in the industry before we came .We did the best we can to solve some of them and indeed we solved many. We held stakeholders meeting not less than 4 times and we held interfaces and interactions with Airline operators (AON), International Air Transport Association (AITA), and other stake holders.
“It is my understanding that some of the issues they are attempting to tackle have been tabled before the vice president when he was the acting president and he directed that a committee be set up under my chairmanship to look into this issues. Now this is not the first time this kind of committed has been set. I remember years ago, there have been committee set for similar purpose and terms of references and results have been produced,” he said.
Members of the committee included; Minister of State for Aviation as the chairman, Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA), Managing Director, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority(FAAN), Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Other members are, Capt. Bogie Maggison, Nominee of the Association of Airline Operator, Allen Onyema, nominee of the association of Airline Operators, Capt Mohammed Joji, Nominee the Association of Airline Operators, Department of Air Transport Management, Federal Ministry of Transportation and International Air Transport Association (AITA).
He enjoined members of the “to do justice to the matter so that it can be closed once and for all”
Meanwhile Sirika announced that Nigeria will be hosting the International Civil Aviation Organization World Aviation Forum (ICAOWAF) from November 20-22, 2017. With the theme: “Financing Aviation Infrastructure in Africa”.
Stella Enenche, Abuja
