DEMOCRACY @ 11: HOW HAS AVIATION FARED?

The last eleven years of democracy in Nigeria and the industry in particular in the hands of the ruling party (PDP), has been a period of little gains, with some inherited pains that was woefully managed, a good example is the liquidation of Nigeria Airways. The industry during the military era was excruciatingly held down by the government in all facets with little or no private participation. Where private participation was encouraged it was sown in selfish interest and doused in a cocktail of corruption.

The democratic government encouraged public and private participation (PPP) in our airports which gave birth to the new terminal which is errorneously referred to as an airport, the MMA 2, other, ancillary concessions within the aviation industry, though contentious are Pan Express and Maevis/Unisys revenue capturing programme.

Unfortunately, they are still thinking of what to do with the other airports, perhaps this must have contributed to the reversal of the Abuja Airport concession package. The last Aviation Minister adopted the airport clustering concession programme, while the present Minister has quietly side stepped the issue in preference to an apologetic approach to embarrassing blunders. Interestingly, different states in the country have contributed more to airport development during this period in comparison to the Federal Government. States such as Cross River, Rivers, Imo, Gombe, Akwa- Ibom and Katsina should be commended for their contribution. The Industry also appreciates the efforts and welcome plans of states such as Delta, Niger, Anambra and Lagos if Bi-Courtney permits. The government of Ogun, Osun and Ekiti states should have a re-think on their proposed airports considering the present under-utilization of neighboring Ibadan and Akure airports which is less than an hour drive.

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) cannot give the country the millennium airports we desire. All we have seen in the last eleven years is stitching and patching of our airports, which is normally preceded by awarding contracts, closing of the airport and soliciting funds, from the domiciled state or the Federal governments. Therefore the PPP is certainly the best option right now; it must be transparent, open and must involve the viable and non-viable airports.

The Industry witnessed government ceding her shares in the National Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) to make it a private organization, while a catering outfit ASL came on board to fill that critical and profitable catering vacuum in the industry. It is noteworthy that NAHCO and ASL are the only aviation related organizations listed on the Stock Exchange. Sky power Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), the only company competing with NAHCO was successfully privatized after going through a chaotic process. The comatose state of Government owned Sky power Catering & Hotel Services (SKYCATER) is an embarrassment, the organization with assets spread across the country is a glorified “mama put”.

There was a high turnover of ministers and accompanying heads of agencies with the presidency reshuffling his Cabinet and new ministers in tow restructuring the agencies in line with Government or self aspirations. The restructuring has bloated some organizations within the Industry as politicians need to satisfy their Godfathers who send relatives and friends to be employed and given contract.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) were granted autonomy, while a Civil Aviation Act was passed into law to empower the regulatory and oversight functions of NCAA.The Government owned institution responsible for civil aviation training in Nigeria, the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) was revamped during this period and has been graduating pilots, hitherto young pilots spent years without seeing an aircraft. The institution returned to life and somewhere along the line, the nation was informed that a reputable technical partner was ready to manage and improve facilities in the school. As usual the partner never surfaced. Recently, the school increased tuition fees to N7 million naira. This was done, in spite of the support given by domestic airlines, states and Federal Government, who have all sponsored students and sometimes given financial grant to support the school. NCAT should have a rethink before they start losing revenue to the numerous and internationally recognized schools in South Africa. Alternatively, the Kwara State Government owned, or supported International Aviation Training School should quickly come on stream to give them a run for their money and also save numerous Nigerians the stress of visa processing and naira conversion in a depressed economy.

The nation witnessed a rash of embarrassing air crashes, starting with EAS in Kano in 2002. After some years came the Bellview crash, thereafter Sosoliso in Port-Harcourt with about 68 children on board. We thought we were done with mourning, when the even more embarrassing ADC crash in Abuja happened. The crash took the life of a prominent traditional ruler and other dignitaries. A revamped NCAA brought the lull, with relative air misses; air-return and other related hair raising incidents in a crash fatigued society. We will also not forget the military plane that crashed over the hills in Benue State, taking a fine breed of Military Officers and the B1600 that disappeared en-route the same Obudu Airstrip the military plane was heading.

On the legislative aspect, the house was able pass the Civil Aviation Act that empowered NCAA to perform & act on safety sensitive issues, the domestication of Cape Town Convention that grant access to financing for aircraft and other high-tech equipment. They were also able expose the classy fraud in the safe tower and Abuja runway projects, tackled the greedy fuel marketers and the privileged concessionaires who have refused to remit or are it the other way round as being claimed by one of them. They need to churn out bills that will protect or strengthen our carriers and equally stimulate flights to different airports within the sub-region, with bills on essentials air services, ownership clause, fly Nigeria act and protective bilateral agreements. it is not a favour but a norm, the legislature needs to be a bit proactive.

The government also stunted the growth of our domestic airlines on the international route by deliberately giving out frequencies, capacities and multiple destinations under the guise of commercial agreements that in return gave them a certain amount of dollars, kept in an escrow account, which became contentious for some time until very recently.
Our carriers have been able to prove their mettle on the west coast but on the international scene the foreign airlines are having a field day with relentless assaults on Lagos, Port-Hacourt and Abuja airports. Also the government went ahead to sign dual designation and open skies with the British and American government, when it was quite obvious that the country was not ready to service these routes effectively despite the five year grace.

In this democratic period, the charter segment has been robust. Private organizations, states and the different tiers of government charter aircraft for retreats and other trips within and outside the country, other sundry reasons, such as weddings, meetings, burials, launching, conventions, elections, electioneering campaigns and our peculiar mess called electoral re-run that are spread across the different geo-political zones. The boom in the charter market is presently being enjoyed by registered operators, private operators and the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF). Suffice for the registered operators the others should not operate commercial charters. NCAA owes us an explanation.

The PAF added a controversial brand new 737 aircraft to their fleet during this period, queries regarding the date of manufacture and initial owners as listed on Boeing website, led to some journalists spending the night in Kuje prisons. The government told the nation, while introducing this aircraft that older aircraft in the fleet would be sold or auctioned. After selling one of the aircraft to a PDP chieftain the process was discontinued, the others are surreptitiously participating in the charter market by flying governors, ministers, top politicians and traditional rulers to destinations within and outside the country at a fee. I sincerely hope they are being regulated by the appropriate agencies and also paying related charges to FAAN, NAMA, NCAA and FIRS as other commercial operators are made to pay.

Private aviation also experienced a boom as super-rich business men, top bank executives and some supersonic general overseers of our home grown new generation churches who have not been melted by the economic recession or harassed by EFCC joined the fray in owning private jets. Most of these aircraft are wet leased, registered and crewed by South Africans, so the financial and employment benefits go to South Africans while the bloated ego goes to Nigerians; the NCAA even compensated them with the necessary waivers, to stay perpetually.

There were some policy reversals such as the submerging of the Aviation Ministry into the Ministry of Transport, which was later reversed, cancellation of Abuja Airport consession rights, banishment of Virgin Nigeria and Arik from operating local flights from the international airport and the cancellation of South Africa Airways technical partner right for the still birth national carrier, which was later awarded to Virgin Atlantic. The democratic government inherited and continued the tradition of commissioning partially completed projects such as the domestic runway in Lagos and Port Harcourt International Airports and the TRACON project.

On air navigation, the democratic government granted autonomy to the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) as a result of a process initiated by the last military regime and completed by the Obasanjo Administration. The Agency is often times bogged down by persistent internal intra union squabbles which can be attributed to the organization’s low level of information technology and skewed staff strength where the Air Traffic Controllers, who provide the services that generate the revenue for the organization are just about 20% when compared to their counterparts in similar organizations.

Also, the democratic Government was able to provide funds for the modernization of the control towers and total radar coverage. Unfortunately the Nigerian factor creped in when the smooth talking NAMA Managing Director at that time, his bemused Professor Minister and his successor decided to fleece part of the funds through a confused Austrian consultant, the case is still pending before a high court. Also equipment for the total radar coverage wasted so much time at our ports that NAMA management had to go cap in hand to the Federal Government to beg for waiver on port and custom charges

On consumer protection and the need to protect Nigerians came to the front burner as the NCAA was not only seen, but heard tackling airlines that breeched consumer rights. Unfortunately they have refused to tame the “Big 3” on the local front, who has consistently turned deaf ears to passenger complaint. Also, the Industry will not forget the positive aggression and verbal ambush of the Chief Fani-kayode, who during his short tenure increased airline capitalization, maintained a no-nonsense attitude to the plight of Nigerian passengers and airlines which literally put the foreign airlines in check.

The national carrier, Nigeria Airways was liquidated after failed attempts to start a new airline within the company, even with the technical assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The advisors to the government then, the IMF, left almost immediately after refunding the four million dollars paid for consultation as the government was not ready to listen to any advice contrary to liquidation. Thereafter, all efforts were geared towards starting a new national carrier, which also failed. Today, we have flag carriers who are struggling to respond to the challenge of a national carrier by improving and expanding their fleet, heavily laden with debts, not supported with luxurious public travel funds and often bedeviled by the single owner- manager syndrome which has made it difficult to garner the necessary national and legislative support usually reserved for flag carriers. The government also, introduced a recapitalization process that threw paper airlines out of the system, while those with safety problems vanished in the face of a revitalized and bold Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and have since been replaced by airlines such as Dana, Arik and Virgin Nigeria Airways.



In closing, we should not forget that some legacy Nigerian carriers, such as ADC, Sosoliso, Bellview, Capital, Afrijet went bust during these period due to safety or economic reasons, annoyingly, one of them leased two 30seater aircrafts, rented a three storey corporate head-quarters for their leased thirty passenger aircraft operation, bought SUV’s and other cars for management, eloped with the millions of naira collected from a state in the north with a promise to operate schedule flights and equally had the temerity to ask for a state bailout.

it was a surprise to hear that our local operators can key into the N500 billion naira bailout funds to be released soon by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while appreciating the initiative, though inadequate, considering the initiative is primarily to protect the Nigerian banks who are being owed billions of naira by the airlines. We need to go further by keeping the public travel expenditure with our flag carriers, therefore we must initiate a Fly Nigeria Act.