NCAA seeks judiciary’s support
Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines (UNA), Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has raised the alarm over what he described as the suffocating tax burden imposed on Nigerian airlines by government agencies.
He warned that the tax burden threatened the survival of indigenous carriers and the growth of the aviation industry in general.
Okonkwo gave the warning just as the Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Chris Najomo, called for more support from the Judiciary in efforts to deepen the understanding of laws governing contractual dealings in the nation’s aviation sector, particularly the Cape Town Convention (CTC).
Speaking in an interview with journalists earlier in the week in Abuja, Okonkwo lamented that operators in the country were being “taxed to death,” stressing that the numerous charges and levies by government agencies had made it nearly impossible for local airlines to operate profitably.
According to him, many of the levies and statutory charges introduced by government agencies were not only excessive but also contravened international aviation standards, which stipulate that revenues generated in the sector should only be used to cover the cost of services provided, not to raise funds for unrelated government projects.
He stressed that no country could achieve economic growth by taxation alone.
In his call on the judiciary to deepen the understanding of laws governing contractual dealings in the nation’s aviation sector, particularly the Cape Town Convention (CTC), Najomo explained that the CTC comprised the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment 2001 and the Protocol to the Convention on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment.
Najomo spoke at the grand finale of the international CTC moot court, held at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday evening under the auspices of the CTC Academic Project.
The DG of NCAA, who was represented by the Director, Operations, Licensing and Training, NCAA, Captain Donald Tonye Spiff, said the CTC “has actually put Nigeria in a better perspective to aircraft lessors and general aviation business in Nigeria.”
The event was organised by the Federal Ministry of Aviation, and Aerospace Development, and the NCAA, with support from the Aviation Working Group (AWG).
Najomo said the purpose of the programme was to familiarise students, academics and judges with the CTC in the context of complex hypothetical fact patterns, and provide students with educational exercises involving these instruments (CTC) in a simulated judicial setting.
He noted that before now, most airline manufacturing or leasing companies did not want to conduct business in Nigeria, adding that with the CTC, assurances had been given.
The Secretary General of the AWG and Co-Director of the CTC Academic Project, Jeffrey Wool, said the CTC is a very important international treaty, ratified by Nigeria, adding that the moot court “is a way to introduce students and the legal system to this all-important treaty”.
