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Government’s persistent interference in the operations of industry regulator, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been identified as contributing significantly against the growth of the sector and posing a threat to security and safety of airlines and airports across the country.
BusinessDay’s checks show that laws set up by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, (ICAO) which Nigeria is a party to, state that all Civil Aviation Authorities under ICAO across the world most exercise autonomy and must not be influenced by the presidency or its ministry.
However, experts say that the reverse has been the case in Nigeria, even after the NCAA was made autonomous in 2006, thereby putting a restraint on the decisions of the regulator.
“The NCAA is supposed to be able to correct government when they are at fault but because of political alliances, government tends to favour certain airline operators over others, or favour certain countries which do not have the interest of Nigeria at heart.
“For example if the minister could be bribed by a certain foreign airline to grant them more frequencies into Nigeria. Some of these issues were what precipitated the NCAA to call for its autonomy, which was granted in 2006,” Dung Pam, former Chairman, Governing Board of the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) told BusinessDay.
Pam recalled that in 2006, an engineer did a spot check on an aircraft and he found out that the aircraft was not fit to fly. The owner of the aircraft objected to the grounding of the aircraft and the minister spoke to the NCAA to allow the aircraft operate. He disclosed that because of the pressure on the director-general of the NCAA at that time, the engineer in charge had to resign.
Tayo Ojuri, an industry expert and Chief Executive Officer, Aglo Limited, an aviation support service, told BusinessDay that most times, the NCAA is not able to follow through on its policy positions because the minister of aviation is right on the neck of the director-general, from one administration to the other.
“The NCAA is supposed to be strict in implementing the economic regulations but when they identify flaws in economic regulations, the ministry tells them to just let go. This was what happened in the case of Arik Air.
“The NCAA is supposed to have powers over the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) but they do not and it is all part of government’s interference. It has been really watered down,” Ojuri said.
Harold Demuren, former director-general of the NCAA, also tips that autonomy of the regulatory body without political interference is key to the achievement of air safety.
Demuren said the NCAA should be independent because every decision taken by the regulator has major effects on the industry, adding that the best way to achieve safety is for the regulator to ensure it does not compromise.
He lamented that when he was head of the NCAA, a minister tried to influence him into taking certain decisions that could have been detrimental to air safety, but he resisted the move in the interest of the industry.
Anastasia Gbem, Director, Legal Services, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), said the NCAA’s autonomy according to legal provisions is not only mandated to make safety regulations, but must not subject such regulations to the approval of other people.
Gbem said the NCAA’s responsibility is also to ensure that relevant stakeholders, such as airport operators, NAMA, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) implement the components of their activities.
A few days back, Mukhtar Usman, the director-general, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, identified undue political and government interference in the aviation industry as key impediments to its growth.
Usman said these two factors were also largely responsible for the nation’s inability to create a friendly and more enabling environment for airlines and other economic activities to flourish, thereby making the operation of a sustainable air transport industry almost impossible.
He stressed that over time, the political leadership had been attempting to ‘domesticate’ the global minimal standards and recommended practices that sustain aviation worldwide in a way to align with Nigeria’s local politics and local economic minima.
According to him, this had led to reduced autonomy for the regulator and key organisations and their inability to determine and control their manpower programmes, such as number and quality of staff, placement, and training, while negating professionalism in the process.
“Government’s interference should be limited to ensuring an enabling political and economic environment to engender economic viability and sustainability of the aviation industry,” he said.
IFEOMA OKEKE
