The Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Obiora Okonkwo, has said the federal government charges Aviation operators more than the United States of America and other countries in the world.
Professor Obiora Okonkwo said for every ticket sold by airline operators to customers, 20 deductions go to different agencies of the federal government.
Obioral noted that the 5 percent passenger rate charged by the federal government has outlived its usefulness. He decried that even as the government charges higher than other countries, the country’s infrastructure in airports remains in poor states.
“We have said several in this platform and so many other occasions that the airline operators are overtaxed. For every single ticket that is sold, there are about 20 deductions going to different government agencies.
“And these 20 deductions obviously constitute a great percentage of the fare that you charge to your clients. It is known all over the world that aviation agencies can only make charges to recover their costs but not to make profit, talkless of being a source of revenue for government.
“But like you have seen, we the aviation operators, we have been vindicated that the huge amount of the money they collect are not reinvested in providing our aviation infrastructure at airports, or so many other places, but rather goes into government purse,” he said.
The Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines advised the federal government to listen to Aviation sector workers who threatened protest on Wednesday (August 21) over 50% deduction of internally generated revenues in all airports in the country.
While speaking with Arise TV, on Friday, Obiora explained that the sector would suffer serious economic loss, if the federal government fails to intervene and address the demand of the workers.
“It is against international aviation law. So for us, we think that government should listen to this crime and their Aviation workers have joined this agitation and do the needful.
“Our Aviation is no more a means of travel for the rich. It is not a luxury. It is a necessity. I have said severally, it is a catalyst for economic growth. It is an enabler. Any country that cannot fly, they have not started doing any form of business. It will affect the economic development.
“So for us, in our Aviation, it is not how much we charge the clients. It is just the percentage of a little profit that matters.
“We have 5 percent passengers rate. This 5 percent, we’ve said, was introduced some years back when there was not even NCA or funding for aviation. It was introduced to bridge a gap that period to provide some money for the government agency to operate. It has become permanent. Not only that has become permanent, a lot more are coming up. You’ve just mentioned about NAMA waking up one day and increasing the phase by 800 percent. That’s ridiculous.
“It remains on record that Nigeria charges the highest aviation charges all over the world. But more than the United States of America, more than the other Western world that even the facilities are all functional.
“So I hope that for us in our aviation, now these our cry and issues have been raised by the workers who are in the sector. We welcome their voice, their strong voice, and we hope that government should listen and do something quickly to avoid the situation because it will not be good for anyone,” he added.
