Aviation agencies in the country are struggling to raise enough money to meet up with a new 40% revenue target as against the former 20% set by the Federal Government to shore up its revenue base.
The Federal Government began implementing the new regime in
mid-October. With this, 40% of internally generated revenues (IGRs) by all
government agencies are now meant for the Federal Government to execute
projects.
There are six agencies in the Ministry of Aviation, out of
which four are affected by the new policy of the federal government. The
affected agencies are the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN),
Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA), and the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.
The new target is seriously affecting aviation agencies.
Another source close to FAAN, who didn’t want to be named, confirmed the
development to our correspondent.
According to the source, the management of FAAN received a
circular from the Federal Government about three weeks ago, notifying them of
the increase.
He explained that since the new policy came on board, FAAN
is finding it difficult to meet some of its obligations to staff, warning that
this may also affect its projects in the sector. He said:
“I can confirm to you that our contribution to the
federation account has increased to 40% following the directive we received
from the federal government. What this means is that as a revenue-generating
agency, whatever amount of money we earn and send to the Treasury Single
Account (TSA), we cannot take back more than 60% for staff welfare, salaries,
and procurement of facilities.
“This will affect our performance. How can you earn money
and 40% of it is for the federation account? We pay our salaries without any
subvention from the federal government. This is also in flagrant disobedience
to the recommendation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),
which stipulates that whatever revenue is earned in aviation should be returned
to it for the upgrade of facilities.”
Just recently, the Managing Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu
Yadudu had appealed to the Federal Government to suspend the 25% revenue
contribution to the Federation Account to enable it to address infrastructure
gaps.
Yadudu had said the only way to ensure development in the
aviation industry was to reduce the revenue contribution by agencies in the
sector. According to him such reductions were in line with international
standards and recommended practices.
He further explained that revenue generation was low because
two airports — Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja are responsible for a major part of
the expenditure incurred by other airports.
He also decried the rising operating and maintenance cost of
the new terminals and existing ones due to inflation and the devaluation of the
naira to support his argument.
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