The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has warned that plans to reduce its statutory share of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) could undermine aviation safety and weaken its ability to effectively regulate Nigeria’s aviation industry.
The warning comes as the National Assembly considers a bill seeking to reduce the NCAA’s share of the TSC in favour of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Under the current arrangement, the NCAA collects the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge and distributes the proceeds among key aviation agencies, including NAMA, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).
Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, the NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, said reducing the authority’s funding would directly affect its regulatory responsibilities and passenger safety.
“The NCAA needs more funding, not less. If you weaken the regulator financially, you weaken safety oversight. Aviation regulators all over the world are adequately funded because they are responsible for protecting lives”, he said.
Achimugu said the Ticket Sales Charge was introduced to reduce the Federal Government’s burden of funding the regulator, even though the NCAA still shares a substantial portion of the revenue with other aviation agencies.
“The concept behind the creation of NAMA was that it should be self-funded and not dependent on government funding,” he said, adding that the NCAA requires adequate funding to ensure its inspectors remain better trained than the operators they regulate and can effectively enforce safety standards.
He said the authority’s oversight has contributed to Nigeria’s strong performance in international aviation safety and security audits, as well as improvements in passenger rights protection.
Achimugu also disclosed that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, is engaging stakeholders over the proposed funding changes and urged parties to allow the discussions to continue instead of litigating the matter in the media.
The NCAA also dismissed reports alleging it owes NAMA outstanding statutory remittances, explaining that such payments are processed directly by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“The NCAA does not make remittances directly to any agency. The CBN handles those payments, and from our checks, the remittances are being processed. Therefore, the issue of the NCAA owing anybody does not arise”, he said.
He maintained that agencies with independent revenue-generating mandates should strengthen their own funding sources rather than seek a larger share of the regulator’s statutory allocation.
