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Arik begins debts negotiation with NAMA
*Agency grounds airline’s Abuja operations
To prevent total disruption of its operations, Nigeria’s flag carrier airline, Arik Air today began reconciliation of its indebtedness following the withdrawal of services to the airline by the Nigerian Airspace management agency (NAMA).
The airline’s Abuja services were disrupted following what a NAMA source said was an action taken to make the airline clear its debts.
As at press time, it was not clear the amount Arik owe NAMA, but a source said Arik’s debts were humongous, adding that the carrier was ready to negotiate and pay what it owes NAMA after reconciliation.
To avoid further damage to its business, the chairman of Arik Air, Sir Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide , Arik’s Vice-President, Capt. Ado Sanusi, Arumemi-Ikhide’s Chief of Staff, Mr. Lanre Bamgbose were spotted at NAMA headquarters in Lagos when the trio held a debt re-conciliation meeting with the Acting Managing Director of NAMA, Mr. Emmanuel Anasi. Also at the meeting was a former Managing Director of NAMA, Mr. Nnamdi Udoh.
WoleshadareNews had exclusively reported the plans by the airspace management agency to recover over N8b airlines owe them.
Chairman, Committee on debt recovery for the aviation agencies, Dr. Saleh Ibrahim had told our correspondent of the plans to ground airlines that are unwilling to pay government what they owe them.
The effort seems to be paying off as the committee has recovered N329 million in two months just as it intensifies efforts to recover more than half of the monies before the end of the year.
There are indications that the carriers also owe the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) N10b and N20b respectively, bringing the debt profile of the airlines to all the agencies to over N38b.
Aside airlines that are still in operation, many others airlines including cargo and charter operators that have ceased operations are also heavily indebted to the agencies.
Ibrahim said that the measure put in place to recover the funds is to deny any, “Recalcitrant operator start up for departure or totally ground the operators”.
He added that what the agency is demanding for is the transfer of money belonging to the agency that is in the airline kitty for many years to the aviation parastatals,
NAMA is said to be carrying huge liability of almost N18b pension, high cost of operation of manning virtually all the 24 airports across the nation and growing overhead.
The Federal Government has some few months ago set up a committee for debt recovery, mandating the committee to recover N8.08b. Since them, the committee has met with the airlines. While many have rescheduled their debts, some others are said to be reluctant to defray their debts.
The source gave the breakdown of the debts amounting to N8.08 billion.
He said the debt before the operators took NAMA to court in 2001 was N3.8b with Supreme Court verdict that gave judgment to the agency and ruled that the carriers should liquidate the debt they owe.
The court had directed that NAMA collect what was owed it by airlines from 2001 to 2013, but the aviation agency is piqued that majority of the airlines are still challenging the verdict of the apex court.
Showing documents to back up his claims, the source said after the court verdict, another N1.6 billion was also owed the agency from January 2014 to June 2016 which is yet to be defrayed.
Cumulatively, none operating airlines, that is, airlines that have ceased operation or gone into extinction owe NAMA N1.1b as the committee vowed to go after them or explore legal option to recover the debts.
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