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Audit: N30B annual aviation revenue, pilfered, wasted- Expert

The on-going audit of the aviation agencies would bring accountability to a system that is fraught with graft, revive the institution of fiscal discipline, ensure transparency and accountability in the management of public finance.
This was the view of a former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd) in a position paper he sent to woleshadareNews.
He further disclosed that over N30B generated from the agency annually are usually wasted, pilfered or stolen, without deploying the resources back to the sector.

The Federal Government is continuing with the audit of the sector following alleged large scale graft that was perpetrated by top officials of some of the parastatals.
A former Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Ibrahim Abdulsalaam and many of his directors and General Managers are currently on trial over allegation of stealing over N3b from the agency.
They have all pleaded not guilty to stealing and conspiracy to defraud the agency charges pressed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The IGR from FAAN on airport service charge on both domestic and international passengers in 2010 was N14 million; airport service charge on all cargo import and export was over 300 million kg in 2013. This must have tripled since then considering the many businesses that have opened between that period and now.
Record shows that aircraft landings and parking charges (400, 000 air traffic). $400.00 is charged for each parking and landing for B737 and $600 for B757, $2120 for B767, $3,130 for B777, $330 for A330.
Document equally shows that airport tax on aviation fuel of N2 was collected on over 1trillion litres of fuel supplied, collection of toll from toll gates in 24 airports across the nation also formed huge revenue generation of the agency, charges on concession and payment on car hires and shuttles buses, charges on services provided to state airports and Bi-Courtney all formed huge revenue that accrued to FAAN without much to show for airport development.
He lamented the wastage of public fund and the huge corruption in the sector which he said has helped to reduce the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and led to inefficiency.
He noted that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and NAMA are some of government public agencies that need the audits more because of the large scale of wastages and corruption that have characterized the management of their IGR and finances over the years.
“There should not have been serious concern about auditing these public agencies IGR if the NCAA has shown compliance to the NCARs Economic Regulation in its oversight of the IGR of the public and private operators.”
His words, “You will find at Annex A, some of the major sources of these agencies Expected IGR. At Annex B, are extracts from Annex A that contain information on the Expected Foreign Exchange earnings by the aviation public agencies in their IGR.”
“These earnings could help the responsible authorities in the Ministry of Finance and CBN to take informed decisions, on whether or not foreign airlines could be given foreign exchange concession to transfer their sales earnings to their home office. This could cause some airline to rescind their decision to stop their operations into Nigeria.”
The aviation security consultant stated that one would discover at the assessment of these agencies IGR that the problem of the Nigeria aviation public agencies is really not the lack of funds and necessarily the need for foreign exchange, stressing that the problem of the industry is acute wastages of IGR and corruption.
“Seriously, foreign airlines should be given considerable concessions to repatriate their earnings to their home office if we consider that they make payment for the services provided them by government agencies in foreign exchange. See details of foreign exchange payments in Annex B.”
He reiterated that should the CBN decides to extend stringent foreign exchange policy on foreign airlines, they should therefore in return be allowed to pay in Naira for the services provided to them by government services providers (NCAA, FAAN and NAMA) and for Royalties on BASAs and commercial agreements.
For NAMA, the agency collects overflying charges to about 50, 000 overflying air traffic and another 400, 000 navigational and air traffic control and services.
For NCAA, the authority charges 5 per cent Charges on all sales Domestics and International Passengers Tickets [for over 14m in 2010], 5 per cent on Freight Charges on Cargo Export and Import (200m kg in 2010).
The authority also collects royalties on Imbalance in Existing BASAs (Average $20 – $30 on every seat on over three million passengers), 4 per cent Corporate Charges on Travel Agents Sales.
Others are personnel licensing fees, aircraft and airlines registration, licensing and annual renewal fees [over 2000 pilots, 300 registered aircraft and over 50 airlines and aircraft operators], security clearances fees for unscheduled foreign flights [landing & overfly], revenue generated from the unilateral commercial agreement with foreign airline, revenue from Licensing , registration and the management of over 200 airstrips, private and state airports, helipads and heliports.
Others are charges on installation of telecom masts.