Unsafe Airspace: Aircraft Lease Rental, Access To Int’l Funds Could Be Tough-NCAA

• Insurance Premium May Skyrocket, Operators Flay Lawmakers

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has come to the defence of the industry and airlines, saying the statement credited to the National Assembly that Nigerian airlines are not safe had the potentials of doing incalculable damage to an already distressed aviation industry.

The Director-General of NCAA, Capt Musa Nuhu frowned at the statement, saying it will cast doubt in Nigeria civil aviation with international community and would make it more difficult for “our airlines to assess international funds, to have good lease rate for their aircraft, their insurance premium may go up”.

His words, “Of course, the twisting of the comment has created an impression that Nigeria civil aviation is not safe and I don’t think you want to put your aircraft or money where the system is not safe. It is unfortunate and that is not the state we are in. I can categorically state that all aircraft we are flying in Nigeria are safe and safe to fly. You can quote me on that”.

“I can categorically say that our airplanes are safe. The airplanes that are not safe have been grounded. Some aircraft have been grounded in Nigeria for months because they are not safe and we have insisted that the operators must fix whatever issue they have before they are authorised to fly. The airline owners said they would never cut corners under any circumstance, noting that Nigerian airlines will never compromise safety under any circumstance”.

“The standard as regards airworthiness of airplanes, even I as the DG I do not have the authority to waive anything as long as it is a safety related issue. All our aircraft flying are safe’, he added.

Also, Nigerian airlines under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), have said than rather cut corners, they will rather shut down operations if the burden of running airline business becomes unbearable.

They stated that if the burden of running their business becomes unbearable as a result of the Custom duties and VAT, they would rather shut down and suspend operations rather than cut corners, reiterating that they would never cut corners.

According to them, it would be practically impossible for any carrier to cut corners because of the tough regulatory oversight by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which they said is alive to its duties and would never allow such to happen coupled with stringent safety regime being run by the NCAA, which makes Nigeria one of the safest in the world in terms of aviation.

The operators have equally protested statement credited to Senator Smart Adeyemi and Nnolim Nnaji, both chairmen of Senate and House of Representative committee on Aviation that the paltry N4b stimulus package approved by the Federal Government to struggling Nigerian airlines could cause domestic carriers to cut corners in what they said makes Nigerian airspace unsafe.

According to the operators in a statement signed by their President, Abdumunaf Yunusa said, ‘The attention of AON has been drawn to the reports in certain news media, quoting a Senator, saying that as a result of the financial problems brought to the airlines by the effects of COVID-19 and, as result of lack of adequate government bailouts for the airline, that the airlines had resorted to cutting corners”.

“AON wishes to state categorically here that there is no iota of truth in this statement. Nigerian airlines have not cut corners, do not cut corners and will never cut corners. We want to believe that the distinguished senator was misunderstood and quoted out of context because there is never any available fact supporting such a conclusion”.

Adeyemi at a briefing in Abuja on Monday pleaded with government to stop the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) from re-introducing payment of duties and VAT on the importation of commercial aircraft, commercial aircraft spares and engines.

He posited that the reintroduction was a flagrant disobedience of the Executive Order by President Buhari granting zero duty and zero VAT on the importation of commercial aircraft, aircraft spares and aircraft engines noting that such decision by the NCS could make the airlines to start cutting corners because of their inability to clear their spares from the customs.

Wole Shadare