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Aviation Sector in a State of Emergency, Needs another N500 billion

By on July 30, 2012

The investigative panel set up by the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, has asked the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the aviation sector in order to rescue it from its current state of decline.

The panel chaired by Group Captain  John Obakpolor (retd) submitted its report to the Minister in Abuja on Friday.

The report called for an intervention fund of N 500 billion to be provided to the airlines in order to bail them out from their perilous state. This is despite the fact that the Federal Government had provided a N200 billion intervention fund for the industry less than 3 years ago. The majority of the funds provided last time were alleged to have been mismanaged by airlines such as Air Nigeria.

Obakpolor said, “At the end of its deliberations, the committee came up with 59 findings and 41 recommendations, in line with the terms of reference.

“The Federal Government should immediately declare an emergency in the aviation sector and commence implementation of the Aviation Safety Emergency Programme.

“To adequately perform their duties, it is important that the NCAA inspectors should have continuous training to ensure that they have the qualification, operational or technical work experience compatible with the operations that they are required to certify or inspect and that their qualification compares favourably with those of operators’ personnel they will encounter in their operation.

“NCAA should ensure that airline operators are put under closer surveillance. Maintenance actions carried out by operators, if not routine, should always be queried to establish what necessitated the maintenance action and ensure the continuous proper use of the technical logbook.”

He added, “The Federal Government should intensify efforts to complete the ongoing reconstruction and remodelling of the terminal buildings and structures, as well as construct new ones across the country.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria should empower commercial banks to create a window for a long-term low interest funding for direct lending to aviation. The industry will require at least N500bn for this purpose.

“An aircraft leasing company with an initial investment of $10bn should be set up by the Federal Government to acquire modern aircraft directly from major manufacturers and lease to qualified Nigerian air operators at preferential rates. This will help in the reduction of operating cost and improvement of efficiency and competitiveness.”