Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has cautioned members of the Airlines Operators of Nigeria (AON), to stop accusing the government and aviation regulatory agencies for the unfavourable operating environment and decline in their profits.
Sirika stated this at the Senate during the closing session of a three-day public hearing on the six executive bills to restructure the aviation sector.
The minister was reacting to claims by the AON that unfavourable business environment caused by poor government policies is affecting the aviation sector.
The Chairman, Chief Executive Officer of Overland Airways, Captain Edward Boyo, had in his presentation held that the aviation regulatory agencies are responsible for the woes of the operators.
Boyo said the Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA) was charging exorbitant fees.
He said undue taxation by NCAA in connivance with the Ministry of Aviation was responsible for high aviation fare while the agency was indifferent to standards and efficiency.
Boyo warned that the local airlines were victims of obsolete legislation and further sought for protection of the parliament through positive legislations to prevent local airlines operators from going into extinction.
But the aviation minister attributed the decline in fortunes of the indigenous airline operators to poor capital outlay, business plans and governance structure.
“The airports must be run for profit, not charity.
“To explain why the airlines are failing are business plans and failure of their CEOs; you don’t blame their inefficiency on us,” Sirika said.
