THE JODA COMITTEE REPORT

The media was recently awash with the Joda Committee report; key decisions were taken and forwarded to the presidency for implementation. The committee asked the Federal government to merge all airlines owing AMCON to form a major carrier or is it a National carrier .I do not agree to that submission because the debt to asset ratio of Arik Air is obviously higher than its liabilities,binding it with other carriers because of indebtedness will not be appropriate . Also I am not impressed with the management of Aero by AMCON ,the airline rather than improve in services has been reducing in operations and fleet with an abysmal staff strength. The resuscitating medication is not working ,therefore AMCON should lookout for other options such as advertising for buyers or shop for turnaround airline experts not unemployed expatriates to help the recovery process before a merger ,an outright merger now will be counterproductive and a subtly subsidy for families who mismanaged their airlines using funds from banks owned by Nigerians. The committee also wants the government to address the under -utilisation of routes, this is a good initiative if we can address this problem .The airlines are fixiated on the trunk routes leaving other domestic routes to a flight or two per day. These famished routes can be improved upon if the Airport facilities are tweaked to extend operational hours,by drastically reducing charges and fees at such airports and by also giving interested airlines some Incentives. It’s the joint responsibility of the Federal and State government to attract flights to those airports, with the Federal government taking the lead.If we improve facilities and increase operational hours it will benefit our airlines, passengers and the economy at large. The committee also requested that the NCAA should enforce the capitalisation requirement of #2.5b and #5b naira respectively, for domestic and international operators that are registered in Nigeria, within three months. I totally disagree, we will continue to progress in error if the emphasis is on capitalisation . We should use fleet as the barometer of measurement by moving it from the ridiculous minimum of two aircrafts to ten aircrafts for domestic/west coast and twelve for international route . An airline with two aircraft will have commercial integrity challenge that cannot attract partners ,financial institutions or schedule integrity. Capitalisation is mere documentation in Nigeria they will all recapitalise on paper while the rot increases in reality. The committee also requested that government should upgrade facilities at our airports for the improvement or passenger services and comfort . I totally agree with this position provided public funds will not be used because of the indebtedness of FAAN and the multiple unfinished projects in our airports spread across the country. The transformation ship hit a financial iceberg when the BASA funds was completely extinguished, taking 22 airports at a go was a political decision not economic. Therefore the government should rather get a reputable airport management organisation to manage and restructure FAAN for a minimum of 10 years .They should be given a free and an uninterrupted environment to work,while efforts will be geared at reducing the debts accrued from the uncompleted or is it failed transformation agenda. To digress a bit I am taken aback by the conflicting position of the government with respect to the presidential fleet, during the campaign period the CHANGE TEAM promised to dispose aircrafts in the presidential fleet which will be used to start a national carrier project, after the inauguration the tone changed. My simple take on it, is that aircrafts in the presidential fleet are divided by civil and military registration, those with the military registration should not be touched but remain with the air force to be used to support and protect the country and the presidency in particular. Those with the civil registration should be disposed off . Mr. President and Vice president Aircrafts should be retained , a third aircraft can be on standby for a year or two to ascertain its relevance. The government should also urgently look at our bilateral agreements and multiple entries ,if Ethiopian Airlines commences the Port-Harcourt route as planned that will be the fifth entry point into Nigeria. Here is an airline that has chosen to invest in other countries in Africa bypassing Nigeria that has given them the highest number of passengers. I also will want us to address the issue of Saudi owned carriers lifting pilgrims from seven Nigerian states , how they arm twisted the government to partake in lifting Nigerian pilgrims are quite baffling. The issue of reciprocity has to do with scheduled passenger and cargo flights which at the moment are being operated by the Saudi national carrier alone unchallenged. Our airlines and passengers pay the requite duties and taxes on each passenger taken to Jeddah, which should be enough for their government. To force our pilgrims into Saudi carriers and also short changing our airlines and tour operators is tantamount to aero political bulling. IT MUST BE REVERSED. This government should realise that Nigerians voted for them not for their unrealistic promises but the realistic failures seen therefore the target is correction not promises our aviation is failing and needs some corrections.