Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority considers hiking its licensing charges to raise capital for investment

AIRLINE industry regulator the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is considering introducing a major hike in operating licence fees and other charges as part of a desperate bid to raise the required funds to get the sector functioning properly.

Like many other industries, the Nigerian aviation sector has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with revenue down due to limited passenger volumes. Even prior to the outbreak of the virus, the sector had several unique problems as capital needed to be raised to upgrade airports across Nigeria.

With life now returning to some sort of normality, NCAA officials are considering raising licensing fees and other charges to help raise capital for refurbishment.  NCAA director-general Captain Nuhu Musa, said the regulator was subsidising the industry considering how low its charges had remained over the years, adding that it was imperative to embark on a major upward review of charges.

According to Captain Musa, the agency does not benefit from allocations and it is not out of place to ensure proper charges are applied. He said charging fees at the international going rate would enhance the agency’s capacity to meet its needs, especially the training of its personnel.

Captain Musa said: “Basically, we are subsidising the industry. Some organisations are buying planes worth tens of millions of dollars but are only paying N200,000 to get a certificate that will make them commercially operational.

"Don’t you think that there is something wrong somewhere there as that N200,000 cannot even do the reviews of their manuals. I’m not even talking about how much it is going to take me to train an inspector, pay him his salaries and provide services to the airlines, so, some of the things will have to be reviewed, going forward because N200,000 is less than $300 and we have some African countries charging $200,000 for it.”

In addition, Captain Musa also said the new Civil Aviation Act should include a fair sharing formula for ticket sales charge proceeds among aviation agencies. He argued that the NCAA deserves to get a relatively significant share considering the fact that it does not get ant federal allocation budget.