The aviation business is the most regulated sector in the whole world, and the reason is not far-fetched: safety considerations. Like a one-time Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Dr Harold Demuren would say, “If a passenger knows that the aircraft he or she is to fly in is not safe, he or she will not board such an airplane’. The stringent regulatory measures put in place by regulators, therefore, are to give passengers peace of mind and confidence about their safety and security.
In Nigeria, like in other countries of the world, NCAA existed primarily to ensure the safety of passengers who patronise Air Transport and Navigation, i.e. those who travel by air.
It is also pertinent to point out that the NCAA, like in other member states of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, an agency of the United Nations that oversees global aviation, does not draw funds or grants from the national government. The authority is self-funding and autonomous by law. This is the global practice, and Nigeria is not an exception.
The Civil Aviation Authority draws its funds from the five per cent ticket sales charge and the five per cent cargo sales charge. This levy is paid directly by passengers on Domestic and International travels, as the case may be. This levy came by way of legislation in line with its autonomous stature as enshrined in its enabling Civil Aviation Act of 2000, as amended in 2022.
This is vividly captured in the Civil Aviation Act of 2022 at Part V Financial Provisions at Section 23 – [1] There shall be a five per cent of airfare, contract, charter and cargo sales charge payable to the Authority which charge shall apply on all international and domestic air transportation originating in Nigeria irrespective of place of sale, issuance of air ticket or execution of the contract of carriage.
The five per cent of airfare, contract, charter and cargo sales charge shall be chargeable on the total amount, excluding statutory fees and taxes – (a) paid by a passenger for an airfare.
[b] in a contract relating to carriage of persons or goods for hire and reward in the case of air transportation not involving the issuance of an air ticket;
[c] paid for a charter flight; and
[d] of the cargo sales
However, this levy is collected by Airlines on behalf of the CAA as enshrined in the Act at section 23 subsection 3 to avoid delay at airports and thereby enhance passengers’ facilitation at all points of departure. As far back as 1990, when the defunct Federal Civil Aviation Authority was created, this levy was being collected by the CAA’s appointed staffers. But the practice was discontinued along the line at the instance of the Airline Operators of Nigeria. Upon taking over, Airlines now add the TSC and CSC on the airfare, collect and remit to the CAA, and thereafter remit to CAA in accordance with an agreed payment plan.
It is consequent upon this that airlines began to incorporate the five per cent TSA and five per cent CSC on their ticket on behalf of the authority. By way of explanation, there are no extra charges on airlines in Nigeria, but a deliberate attempt to twist the facts in an attempt to attract government intervention at a critical time, like we are in all over the world.
Again, as Demuren would say, the government cannot be wrong in supporting its own. Governments all over the world support their airlines in times of need as it is today, but it should not be at the expense of the mainstay of another critical agency, as that could amount to strangulation.
Today, the TSC and CSC are being shared among the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian Airspace Management Authority, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Nigeria College of Aviation Technology and Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau.
The sharing formula is captured in section 8 of Part V of the Civil Aviation Act 2022 as follows:
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority – 56 per cent
Nigerian Airspace Management Agency – 22 per cent
Nigerian Meteorological Agency – nine per cent
Nigerian College of Aviation Technology – seven per cent
Nigerian Safety Investigation Board – six per cent
It is pertinent to point out that these collections belong to the CAA fully and wholly at inception, because the other Agencies have other sources of income. Whatever is accrued from the collections is an added advantage to the other agencies. How the sharing began with other agencies is a report for another day. Believe it or not, I was motivated to do this write to put the record straight and not to seek attention, far from it. We cannot all keep quiet when obvious facts are being selfishly turned upside down.
It is high time the question is asked, why are the Domestic operators having problems with the remittance, at a time Foreign Airlines operating in and out of Nigeria do not have challenges in remitting the same collections to CAA? I do hope attention is being paid to how the CAA will fund its operations without recourse to the Federal Government if its main financial source is cut off.
Before AON have their way, let us remember the experience of pre 2005 – 2006 when aircraft were dropping off from Nigerian skies due partly to the executive’s overbearing and interference with the oversight responsibilities of the CAA at the time. The outcome was the series of air disasters recorded in Nigeria between 2005 and 2006. To prevent a recurrence of that era, the Federal Government of Nigeria introduced some far-reaching reforms that gave birth to a legally autonomous regulatory agency now known as the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
This is to enable this agency to be strong, virile and in a position to carry out its oversight of the aviation industry without political interference. Since it exists for the safety of air passengers, it is passengers who pay for its existence. This is a global practice. So, if operators engineered the tampering with its financial mainstream, then they should remember the dark ages in air transport in Nigeria from 2005 to 2006, when the worst air disasters were recorded and avoid politics that is capable of bringing back the era, God forbid.
Sam Adurogboye is a former General Manager of Public Affairs at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
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