Despite
the plummeting fortunes of domestic airlines in the country due to the
harsh economy, they will have to pay up their debts worth more than N30
billion or be grounded by regulatory agencies.
The Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)
and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) are going after
airlines to recover over N30 billion debts accumulated in the last 16
years.
It was learnt that the renewed debt recovery, following a
directive from the Federal Government, will involve the deployment of
all means possible to succeed, including grounding some airlines that
have not embraced the option of a peaceful resolution.
The debts
were incurred from sundry services offered to commercial and chartered
airlines operating on government-owned and private aerodromes.
Sources
disclosed that one of the most popular airlines in the country is
indebted to FAAN to the tune of N12.5billion, and would soon be shut out
of some routes.
NAMA confirmed the development, estimating that
N8.08 billion debt liabilities are to be reclaimed from airline
operators and private and some state-owned airports.
A document
seen revealed that domestic operators collectively owe NAMA N3.89
billion between 2001 and 2013. While that is still unpaid, the domestic
airlines have also accrued N1.6 billion from January 2014 to June 2016.
Some
airlines that are already defunct are owing NAMA N1.048 billion, while
private and state-owned aerodromes owe N1.54 billion.
A member of
NAMA special committee on debt recovery said the agency was under
enormous pressure to meet the Federal Government’s revenue target,
coupled with an in-house liability burden, which the agency has to meet,
especially on pension. Pension outstanding in the agency is in the tune
of N18 billion, it was learnt.
The director, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity, said: “The government of the day has a lot of
expectations from ministries, departments and agencies, and you either
deliver or you are out.
“The
Federal Government has directed that 25 per cent of revenue should be
remitted to government’s account. We are left with no option than to
re-strategise and go all out to recover all outstanding debts. They
(airline operators) are our customers and we respect them, but times are
different and debts must be recovered using all means under the law.”
Feelers
from the aviation sector suggest that “the big stick measure and
pay-as-you-go” regime will worsen the plight of domestic airlines that
are already gasping for breath amidst huge debts to banks, foreign
exchange hike, unpaid salaries, low patronage and fuel shortage.
The
Chairman of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Nogie
Meggison, appealed for the Federal Government’s intervention in the
aviation fuel crisis and multiple charges, saying the local airlines
were more at risk of folding up.
With a litre of aviation fuel now sold for N220-plus, more than 40 per cent of the airlines’ operation cost goes into fuel.
“It
is very sad to note that despite all these burdens on the shoulders of
the Nigerian airlines, they are still expected by the Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS) to pay taxes out of their losses. Multiple and
excessive taxation from the NCAA, FAAN and NAMA is making it more
expensive to run an airline in Nigeria,” he said.
A top official
in NAMA, however, denied the allegation of multiple charges and an
alleged plan by government agencies to regulate airlines to extinction.
“It
will interest you to know that some of these people have for several
years been cutting corners and using friends in authorities to evade
paying dues. But the current government said there is no room for such
things.”
“The issue of multiple charges has been resolved since
the time of Chidoka. More so, we have not increased our charges. We are
not convinced that the sector is as bad as bandied about. Within this
debt recovery exercise, we have one domestic airline that has fully
cleared its debt,” he said.
