Aliu: TSC designed to keep airspace safe for five years

• FG deviated from initial funding policy for agency-Aliu
• Revenue restructuring long overdue-Iyayi

Heavyweights across Nigeria’s aviation sector, alongside key industry labour unions, have called for an urgent review of the statutory sharing formula for the 5% Ticket, Charter, and Cargo Sales Charge (TSC), describing the current distribution model as a systemic error that starves critical infrastructure of vital funds.

Speaking virtually at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, former President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Council, Dr Olumuyiwa Aliu, revealed that the initial policy design for the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) was never intended to be a permanent funding engine for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

According to Aliu, the charge was originally created to offer NAMA a temporary, five-year financial cushion. However, subsequent administrations deviated from the master plan after the Federal Government failed to fund the agency properly.

“It was a great mistake by the government to create NAMA without adequate funding,” Aliu stated. “We took a decision that was not the right one by asking the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to statutorily fund NAMA temporarily to assist the agency. But successive governments changed everything, creating the problem we have today.”

Aliu emphasised that while NAMA now relies heavily on the charge to fulfil its statutory duty of keeping the national airspace safe, the sector’s broader challenges are systemic and cannot be solved by TSC revenues alone without direct government capital funding.

Providing historical context, former Director-General of the NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren, shared that the 5% framework was conceived in 1989 following a study tour to the United States.

“We were told that 10% was deducted in the U.S. We decided 10% was too high and settled for 5%,” Demuren recalled, while acknowledging the operational distinction that the NCAA remains a regulatory body rather than a service provider.

Corroborating this stance, former Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Roland Iyayi, argued that restructuring the revenue allocation is long overdue. He questioned the logic behind allocating the lion’s share of funding to the regulator, asking what direct operational infrastructure the NCAA provides compared to service providers.

Adding his voice to the call for reform, aviation security expert Group Capt. John Ojikutu (Rtd) asserted that air navigation service providers require significantly more capital than the regulator due to the heavy financial burden of maintaining airspace safety systems.

The push for legislative intervention received strong support from NAMA’s in-house unions—comprising ATSSSAN, NUATE, AUPCTRE, and ANAP.

In a joint memorandum signed by Tukur M.S.A. and Afatakpa Evuarherhe Patrick, the unions described NAMA’s current 22% share under Section 23(8) of the Civil Aviation Act 2022—compared to NCAA’s 56%—as a major imbalance that ignores operational realities.

The unions argued that while the NCAA conducts essential audits and regulatory oversight, NAMA acts as the country’s Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), delivering non-stop, 24/7 safety-critical operations nationwide.

“This responsibility entails enormous operational and maintenance costs, including continuous power supply via diesel facilities, alongside the upkeep of nationwide communication, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management infrastructure,” the memo stated.

The unions urged the National Assembly to correct the disparity by raising NAMA’s allocation to at least 50%, or reversing the formula entirely to grant NAMA 56%.

Additionally, the labour leaders demanded the enforcement of revenue collection for Mast and Obstacle Evaluation as a core statutory mandate of NAMA, consistent with the NAMA Act and Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) guidelines.

Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Aviation set up a committee for NAMA and NCAA to harmonise their agitations for revenue restructuring and to know exactly how much the agencies are generating and why they need beef up in their allocations

Wole Shadare