Nigeria: Aviation Agencies Under Pressure Over N40 Billion Airline Debts

The federal government is mounting pressure on aviation agencies to recover over N40 billion debts from some debtor airlines, Daily Trust can report.



It was learnt that in the effort, one of the agencies, the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), has begun to ground the operations of some debtor airlines.

Findings by our correspondent indicated that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is being owed over N10bn in Ticket Sale Charge (TSC) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), N20bn while NAMA is being owed over N8bn.

In the case of NAMA, it was learnt that N8.084,118,635.40 is to be recovered from airlines and some state and privately owned airports.

A source who spoke with Daily Trust on condition of anonymity said it became mandatory for NAMA to recover the funds because it was also burdened with over N18bn pension and other liabilities.

Since the debt recovery drive started, however, it was learnt that the agency had only recovered N329 million.

A NAMA source said, "This is indeed a far cry from what the agency is being owed. But we are very determined to recover this money to keep our operations afloat. However, we are being systematic about it.

(culled from allafrica.com)