By Chinasaokwu Helen Okoro
The Airline Operators of Nigeria has rejected a proposed increase in levy charges by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, saying such a move will cripple an already struggling industry.
The Director General of the NAMA, Umar Farouk, had stated on Friday that airline charges would increase by 800 per cent.He stated that the agency would raise its en-route navigational charges from N2,000 and N6,000 to N18,000 and N54,000 per flight, just as the airspace agency equally increased the extension of hours of service to airlines from N50,000 to N450,000.
This represents an 800 per cent increase per extension. He said the increment would enable the agency to recover the cost of diesel and other logistics during the period of extension.Basically, this means that airfares may also skyrocket by 800 per cent.
The spokesman for the AON, Obiora Okonkwo, said the proposal was unacceptable.
“We are going through a lot and they are talking about taxes that are already too much and increasing them in multiple folds. Unless they want this industry to have a premature death. It is already on oxygen support.
We are sure that we’re not going to accept that and it is unfair for NAMA to increase this rate and think it is what the industry needs now. They should use the much we are already paying to improve facility and infrastructure,” he added.
An aviation expert, Captain John Ojikutu, described the development as “institutional corruption” insisting that the charges were not only needless but fraudulent.He insisted that other agencies of the Ministry of Aviation should rather share from the five per cent taken by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.He added that the 800 per cent raise was unthinkable, preempting that NCAA might promptly approve it to prevent NAMA from sharing from its own five per cent revenue.He said, “I have told them, instead of this raise, they should all rather go and share rationally from the five per cent taken by the NCAA. What is the NCAA doing with the five per cent? NCAA, FAAN, NAMA, Nimet and this other one; the five federal aviation agencies should share this money rationally. Why is the NCAA taking 53 per cent, giving NAMA 23 per cent, and the other one taking six per cent or so, this is all nonsense.
“These are what they should be looking into instead of NAMA increasing the charge. They will kill the airlines and nobody is going to travel again. The government should help.
Secondly, FAAN should review their landing, what is paid in Lagos and Abuja should not be the same to be paid in places like Port Harcourt and Calabar. I have told them to categorise these things, else, they will kill these airlines.
NCAA is making close to N100 billion annually. Who should benefit more if not NAMA whose duty is the safety of the flying passengers.
”Meanwhile, airline operators have lamented the impact of the multiple taxations imposed on them by the Federal Government.The operators said despite the foreign exchange rate of N1,605 to $1, the government still pressured them with over 20 taxes.The AON noted that the over 20 taxes imposed on each air ticket, combined with the high foreign exchange rate, were burdening airlines and driving up ticket prices.
News men gathered that airlines were battling multi-faceted challenges affecting flying passengers’ experiences and frustrating air travel in Nigeria.
Among the challenges is the lack of forex, which many airline operators said had caused several aircrafts to lie fallow at different maintenance sites outside Nigeria, adding that this has caused a shortage of aircraft.The Managing Director of Aerocontractors Airlines, Ado Sanusi, complained about the burden of government’s multiple taxations on airlines as well as the unavailability of the airline fuel commonly referred to as JetA1.Sanusi noted that he understood that many were complaining about the price of JetA1, explaining that he stopped complaining about the price of the essential commodity because its hike would be transferred to the passengers.He stated,
“Multiple taxation has been there for a long time and it’s a major contributory factor to the situation in the country, and in some cases, pulling the airlines down completely. I don’t complain about the price of JetA1, but I complain about its availability because when the price is high, you transfer it to the customers. Yes, economics 101 is very simple. When JetA1 increases in price that means other petroleum products must have gone up so everybody will adjust accordingly.“But for multi taxation, you can’t transfer it to the customers or else you will price yourself out of the purchasing power of the customers.
So, the government must look into this crisis of multi-taxation.”Reacting, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Michael Achimugu, dismissed claims of pressuring airlines with multiple taxes, challenging the operators to present the percentage taken by the NCAA.He explained that the NCAA takes five per cent of ticket fees from the operators, the same fund the agency remits to the government, Nimet and NAMA.
Achimugu said, “I get to hear this thing a lot but please, find out from them how much they are charged. Ask them, let them show you how much they pay to the government from every N150,000 or N180,000 ticket fares; how much do they pay in tax to the government, that they are calling too much? This component needs to be gotten.I will speak to the director, whose purview covers collection of the tax and get back to you. I am very certain that what we charge is five per cent of ticket sales and NCAA remits 50 per cent to the Federal Government and also Nimet and NAMA.
“We are not a revenue-generating agency, rather, we are a cost-revering agency with a large degree of autonomy. We are not being funded by the government, so where do they expect the salaries of inspectors and other officers to come from? That is why I want them to show you the figures. How much do they pay to the government?”
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