Osubi airstrip operators owe NAMA N566 million, pay N31M 

• Agency restores flight services

Shoreline Oil Services Limited, operators of the Osubi airstrip has paid N31 Million out of the N566, 422, 000. 00 it owe the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

Subsequently, the agency has announced the resumption of flights to the area following appeals from stakeholders and in consideration of the overall interest of the air travel public.

Woleshadarenews had penultimate month reported the closure of the airstrip due to over N4 billion indebtedness of Shoreline Oil Services Limited and others to NAMA, necessitating the agency to withdraw navigational services to the airstrip.

A statement from spokesman for NAMA, Khalid Emele stated that the decision was consequent upon the payment of N31M by Shoreline Oil Services Ltd, operators of the airstrip, being part payment of accumulated charges for the provision of air traffic services at the airstrip by NAMA.

Emele disclosed that the payment leaves Shoreline Oil Services with a debt balance of N566, 422, 000.50 as of October 28, 2018.

He recalled that they took the difficult decision to withdraw air traffic services to Osubi airstrip after Shoreline Oil Services persistently refused to honour financial obligation to us despite several entreaties.

“As a responsible corporate citizen and provider of critical services to the nation’s civil aviation sector, we felt obliged to restore our services to the airstrip with the understanding that Shoreline Oil Services will take full advantage of this window of opportunity to make additional payment that will substantially defray the above N566, 422, 000.50 debt as well as agree on a concrete and workable payment plan that will clear the outstanding balance”.

“It is our hope that going forward, and in the spirit of the renewed understanding between both organizations, Shoreline will reciprocate this gesture by paying for our services as and when due”, he added.

He however corrected insinuations that NAMA was responsible for “shutting down” Osubi airstrip, stressing that, “Nothing could be further from the truth as we do not have such statutory or physical powers. We merely withdrew air traffic services to the airstrip but we did not shut it down”.

Most of the aerodromes are hugely indebted to NAMA just as paucity of funds has stretched the finances of the airspace agency as many airlines, airports and airstrips operators have reneged in paying for services rendered by the agency which relies on revenue generated from its services to pay workers and maintain its highly powerful navigation equipment which run on electricity or generating plants for 24 hours.

 A top official in NAMA recently told our correspondent on strict condition of anonymity airspace managers would soon withdraw services from all the private airstrips in the country.

 Top on the list of the private airstrips he said was Osubi said to be indebted to NAMA to the tune of N500 million which the private firm allegedly refused to offset.

Sources familiar with the agency’s operations hinted that it is facing great difficulty in funding the maintenance of its critical equipment as well as payment of staff remunerations and pensions to its retired personnel owing to airlines’ huge indebtedness to it.

 NAMA provides very critical services fundamental to flight operations including air traffic control, visual and non-visual aids, aeronautical telecommunication services that enhance commercial, private and military aircraft which fly in and out of Nigeria’s airspace.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government first drew up plans to build an airport in Osubi in the late 1970s to allow easy transport into Warri city by air because of its status as an oil city, but the plan languished for over two decades.

Meanwhile, people coming in and out of Warri continued to use the old airstrip in a congested part of the city.

The airstrip could only accommodate small aircraft on its short runway, so that whenever a plane took off or landed, the authorities had to close off an adjacent road to traffic so that a passing car would not be clipped.

Finding it harder and harder to conduct business with the old airstrip, Shell Petroleum decided to build one on its own.

The maintenance and facilities are among the best in the country and traffic flow is one of the highest. In the first six months of the opening of Osubi Airstrip, more than 100,000 passengers passed through just as it handled 3,500 aircraft movements.

Wole Shadare