Senate committee on aviation charges agencies on transparency in procurement

The Senate Committee on Aviation on Monday urged agencies in the industry to be more transparent in the procurement of equipment and implementation of projects in view of the economic recession.

It also vowed to unveil the cartel behind the lingering scarcity of aviation fuel which had crippled flight operations of many domestic airlines and left many air travellers stranded in recent times.

Sen. Bala Na’Allah, Vice-chairman of the committee, made the plea during an inspection visit to some agencies in Lagos.

The committee met with top officials of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).

Na’Allah said that the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, had expressed concern over the state of the industry and mandated the committee to urgently find lasting solution to the challenges.

“We have appropriated money to various agencies in the last budget, and we want to analyse their areas of successes and challenges.

“This will enable us to take them into account in the preparation of the 2017 budget, because we are all aware that the country is currently facing reduction in revenue generation.

“This is due to the declining oil price at the international market.

“We must first of all accept the fact that the industry is in trouble. We have been involved in self-denial for a very long time, but now, we must be able to tell ourselves the truth.

“There is no intention to indict anybody. Collectively, we are all guilty, but individually, we are looking at what can be done to reposition the industry and put it back on track,” he said.

Na’Allah said that over the past six years, Nigeria had spent billions of naira on the procurement of navigational aids and resurfacing of runways, but regrettably, there was nothing on ground to show for it.

According to him, whereas other neighbouring countries such as Ghana, Niger and Togo spent less, but had modern navigational facilities and functional runways at their airports.

Na’Allah alleged that a cartel of oil marketers was responsible for the scarcity of aviation fuel, saying that the country would no longer allow few individuals to hold it to ransom.

“The only way we can solve this problem is to unbundle the importation of the product. If anybody doesn’t want to supply fuel to Nigeria, the person can go.

“The committee is going to look into it and we will be very decisive about it because this is an issue that is peculiar to Nigeria as the price of aviation fuel has even fallen globally,” he said.

Na’Allah also advised FAAN to stop collecting toll fees from workers working within the international airport, adding that it was morally wrong for the agency to impose such burden on them.

Speaking, the Acting Managing Director of NAMA, Mr Emma Anasi, said that paucity of funds had affected the completion of its Aeronautic Information Services (AIS), an Automation project, across the nation’s airports.

Anasi said, “If we are able to have adequate funds, I am hoping that before the first quarter of next year, we will have the project running.”

He said that NAMA and its sister agencies were being owed billions of naira by domestic airlines which had limited them from effectively carrying out their statutory functions.

Similarly, the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr Saleh Dunoma, said that lack of equipment by airlines and the scarcity of aviation fuel had affected the operations of some airlines.

“The airlines are owing us a lot of money and they need to pay their outstanding debts, but when you look at the reality on ground, it is difficult for us to put more pressure on them,” Dunoma said.

Also, the Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, said that the authority would continue to work with the committee on ways to improve the industry.

On his part, the Commissioner of the AIB, Mr Felix Ambali, appealed to the committee to help increase the agency’s three per cent ticket sales charge and also set up an accident intervention fund.According to him, this is in line with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard in global accident investigation.