Civil Aviation Act amendment begins 14 years after

As the amendment of the Civil Aviation Act, 2006 gets closer, 14 years after it was done, aviation professionals have urged the legislators on delivering new laws that would strengthen the oversight functions of the National Assembly.

The process begins with a three-day public hearing on the six executive bills slated for October 20 to 22, 2020.

The bills are seeking to amend certain aspects of the Acts establishing the six agencies being superintended by the Ministry of Aviation.

Experts called for the retention of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge/Cargo Sales Charge (TSC/CSC), which was the main source of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) revenue before some of the agencies were included in the sharing formulae be retained and if possible improved upon so that the agency could remain strong and virile.

Engr. Ifeanyi Ogochukwu, a Licensed Air Traffic Safety Electronics Specialist said the regulatory agency should be empowered to effectively carry out oversight functions.

“NCAA must have the authority to enforce and implement compliance with economic regulation of the industry. It is obvious that most of the airlines don’t have a bigger plan, people have money, they go into the business and start running an airline without structure, business plan and of course, it is bound to fail.”

The Director, Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), Prof. Anthony Kila, on his part said the NCAA as a critical agency in the sector should be empowered to discharge its duties without interference.

“A good economic regulation should not be the one that will make life unnecessarily difficult, but work with them to ensure that it is sustained. That means you have to look at the cost of insurance for airlines, regime of paying for landing and parking for airlines.”

Mr. Olayinka Abioye, a former General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), said, “There are several areas in the NCAA Act that I hope can be reviewed such as the revenue sharing formula to sister agencies, the CAAs oversight functions to be expanded and deepened to cover more areas and include applicable sanctions against defaulting agencies, airlines and other relevant critical bodies within the industry such as handling companies, security companies.”