N10bn airlines debts: NCAA introduces automation to prevent new debts

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said the agency has put in place automation to prevent the emergence of new debt from airlines.

General Manager, Public Relations of NCAA, Samuel Adurogboye, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday that airlines indebtedness to NCAA was more than N10 billion.

Adurogboye said that old debts owed by airlines were defrayed little by way of ensuring that the defaulters show evidence of payment before services were rendered.

NAN reports that the debts are accrued from five per cent ticket and cargo sales charges collected by the airlines in trust for the regulators.

The Ticket Sales Charges (TSC) is a charge collected for the agencies by the airlines in trust, to be remitted to government coffers in order to avoid collection before flight and creation of confusion, delays and missed flights.

According to him, airlines indebtedness to NCAA is over N10 billion.

“However, we have put up a system that prevents emergence of new debts via the automation.

“The old debts are defraying little by way of ensuring that the defaulters show evidence of payment before services are rendered.

“We applied appropriate sanctions whenever there is an infraction as a deterrent and to prevent a re-occurrence.

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“NCAA is working hard to ensure that the airlines are operating safely in and out of our airspace,” he said.

Adurogboye said the Nigerian travel agencies were being controlled through registration and the process is ongoing.

He said that the main source of revenue for the agency remained the internally generated income from the five per cent on TSC and five per cent cargo sales charges.

The NCAA spokesman said NCAA controls passengers complaints in line with the provision of the Nig. CARs

He said that domestic airlines were insured overseas, adding that this was largely because of the heavy capital involved.

Adurogboye added that Nigerian Insurance provides the local content.

He said that NCAA still sees to it that airlines were properly and adequately insured so that they would be in a position to fulfil their part of the bargain in event of an occurrence.

“NCAA has been at the forefront and also an advocate of training and retraining as a way out of manpower and ageing workforce staring us in the face,” Adurogboye added.

However, when contacted for a response to the NCAA’s alleged N10 billion indebtedness by the airlines, the president of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Nogie Meggison, could not immediately respond to calls and text messages sent to him. (NAN)