Oronsaye’s report causes fresh panic in aviation

• Stakeholders warn against merging NCAA with any agency

Will the federal government merge agencies in the aviation sector with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which is the apex regulatory agency in the industry?

This is a poser that is causing ripple in the industry following the submission of white paper on the Stephen Oronsaye report on rationalisation and restructuring of federal agencies and parastatals.

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a review of the report commissioned during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In the report, the committee recommended the merger of three aviation agencies; the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) into a new body to be known as the Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA) while amending their respective enabling laws to reflect the merger.

The committee also recommended that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) be privatised.

However, there is an uneasy calm in the aviation sector following the submission of the white paper as stakeholders are apprehensive over what became of the agencies.

The submission of the white paper came a few days after the president had signed the new Civil Aviation Act (CAA) into law which significantly amended the 2006 Civil Aviation Act.

With a new CAA in place, stakeholders say it would be counter-productive to merge the agencies. Besides, they said it would not augur well for the sector to merge the regulatory authority with other agencies which are essentially service providers.

Former General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Olayinka Abioye, said the Oronsaye’s report has been “over-flogged” and that it is better to jettison it in the aviation sector.

“Let it be known that the aviation sector will be worse off if that report is implemented as presently propagated as it negates the principles of separation of responsibility as propounded by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

“For instance, how can you combine the NCAA, a regulator, with the Air Navigation Service Provider, being NAMA? What roles will FAAN/NAMA play in the merger with NIMET? What becomes of the repeated reviews of the establishment Acts of these MDAs?

Aviation analyst, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, also said it would not augur well to merge the regulatory authority with any operating agency.

He said, “You can separate the aeronautical services and the non-aeronautical services in FAAN. You can concession the non-aeronautical services but make FAAN a Holding Company.

“Merge the aeronautical services with NAMA and make it a public commercial entity that must be subjected to the NCAA regulations.”