Why FG approved 5% passenger service charge to AIB-Commissioner

Nigeria’s Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) Commissioner, Mr Akin Olateru has lamented the criticism that continues to trail the approval of 5 per cent of the revenue from the Passengers Service Charge (PSC) granted the bureau by the ministry of aviation.

Prior to now, the entire 100 per cent of the PSC revenue charge was being collected by only Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) until the minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika granted AIB approval to enjoy 5 per cent of the revenue.

Olateru who was reacting to the controversy the approval has been generating from a section of the sector, maintained that the approval would go a long way in helping the bureau to live up to expectations as several of the AIB projects were hitherto stalled because of paucity of funds.

He lamented how paucity of funds had stalled the release of the over 35 accident investigation reports, due to non-training of accident investigators since 2013, stressing that the agency needed to develop human capacities in order to compete with others.

The AIB Commissioner who said it was within the purview of the Minister to approve five per cent of the revenue from the PSC to the bureau from FAAN, also hinted that the AIB only had access to a meagre three per cent of the revenue from the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge and the Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) collected on behalf of the parastalas by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) while other agencies get more.

According to him, the NCAA in accordance with the Civil Aviation Act 2006, gets 58 per cent, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) earns 23 per cent, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) gets 7 per cent while the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) earns 9 per cent of the total sum.

Olateru insisted that of the agencies in the sector, only FAAN earned the PSC 100 per cent, adding that the same agency still collects charges for adverts, parking and landing of aircraft, land and tolls on vehicles coming in and exiting the airports across the country.

His words: “Anybody that says it is not fair for us to get a part of the PSC is wicked because who owns the two agencies? It’s the Federal Government. We all share the TSC and FAAN doesn’t share its PSC with anybody and the government in its wisdom says ‘FAAN, please give AIB 5 per cent.’ I don’t think that is too much. It is within the power of the minister to do that.”