Aviation Agencies to Contribute 25% of Earnings to FG

The Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, on Tuesday said henceforth aviation agencies must be contributing 25 per cent of their revenues to the federal government.

Chidoka said this was to ensure that the parastatals did not squander their earnings which had received a boost since more airlines have started operating in the country.

The parastatals include the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET).

Chidoka said

the compulsory contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is in line with the nation’s fiscal policy act.

The minister said he was fully in support of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) which two weeks ago closed the bonded warehouses at the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

He said the clearing agents defied constituted authority which is at variance with operational standards in the industry, adding that the closure would continue until the clearing agents learn to respect constituted authorities and obey existing rules at the airport.

Chidoka, who made this known in a press briefing with journalists in Lagos said all the agencies revenue sources would be critically reviewed and all loopholes blocked.

He frowned on the current trend where the agencies consume all their internally generated revenue with nothing left to remit to the federal coffers, adding that at present, the contribution of the agencies is about four per cent.

The minister said he had established two committees; one was to review the crashes that had taken place in the country and look at the recommendations with a view to implement them.

The second committee was to review all charges levelled on the airlines in order to bring them to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) accepted standard and make them profitable to the agencies as well as achieve the commercial purpose for which they were set up.

On the closure of cargo warehouses, Chidoka said: “I have been very silent on the issue of the cargo terminal, but I want to say it publicly today that it was in the line of authority of customs to order that closure. It was not ordered by me, but I fully support it.

“I want everyone to know that nobody can hold the Nigerian government to ransom. So, no group of people, no matter how powerful they are, no matter how much they gather, can harass government agencies and force us into submission with the belief that the government will not want to close down a certain area of the airport. We have done it with the cargo terminal and we will do it with any part of our airport.”

Thisday