The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has denied allegations that its members defrauded the federal government due to the debt some of them owe aviation agencies.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had on Tuesday, threatened to ground debtor local airlines whose current obligations stand at N19 billion and $7.6 million, arising from unremitted ticket charges paid by passengers.
The regulator then mandated the domestic operators to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on how they will pay their debts in the next 30 days, from August 30, failing which will result in the immediate withdrawal of their operating licenses.
Reacting to the reports, the AON in a statement signed by its Vice President, Allen Onyema, stated that airlines in Nigeria are operating under harsh conditions and that every airline in the world is indebted and such debts are settled as their operations go on, insisting that it is no reason to criminalize the airlines.
He called on its members with bad debts to engage the agencies and put forward repayment plans.
“Our attention has been drawn to news making the rounds that the DG NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, “accused airlines of defrauding government aviation agencies like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) of over N19billion Naira while converting same to ‘personal use”.
“The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) wishes to state its very strong reservations for such accusations and we deny very strongly that our members are defrauding or defrauded government agencies of the said amount or any amount for that matter. Airline Operations, worldwide, are not a cash-and-carry business. Every airline in the world owes debts which are settled as their operations go on. Nigeria is not an exception.
“It is true that some of our members have very bad debts but not all our members owe such debts. The owing of debts in itself does not amount to fraud. We frown very strongly at the criminalisation of all Nigerian airlines as a result of the said debts.
“Various parties were present at a stakeholders’ meeting and the DG NCAA did not at any time use such words to describe Nigerian airlines. Rather, the meeting ended on an amicable note with everyone agreeing to work together to address the debts.
“It is pertinent to point out that some of these debts are owed by some airlines that are no longer in existence.
“We, however, advise our members with such bad debts to engage the agencies and put forward repayment plans. Airlines in Nigeria are operating in a very harsh environment and need all the support from everyone,” Onyema said.
