Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines and the spokesman of Airlines Operators of Nigeria (AON), Professor Obiora Okonkwo has said that the Federal Government should stop seeing aviation parastatals as revenue generating agencies, in line with international best practices.
Prof. Okonkwo, who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune in an interview, said that aviation in Nigeria is contributing resources to the government more that it gets from the government.
According to him, being largely private-sector-driven, the aviation sector has the potential to guarantee the push to make Nigeria an African aviation hub but stated that “we are now in a situation where the aviation contributes to the government financially more than we get from the government.”
He added: “All over the world, government charges for the aviation are called recovery charges; not for profit making. But, in Nigeria, you find out of the charges are so huge that it rubs us, the operators off the liquidity to continue our expansion and to do our business and puts more into the government purse so much so that aviation agencies like NAMA NCAA, FAAN and others do not just collect money for recovery, but they generate revenue for the government and contribute to the GDP. It is not so.
“Every money from many of those aviation agencies are some money that should have remained in the hands of operators to strengthen their operations, especially when cost of capital is so huge. Aviation is not seen as any other business in other parts of the world. The profit-making effect is not that loud.”
He said that a situation where the operators source funds at commercial rates and from the same market as those who buy human air, cosmetics, wigs and so on, would only burden the industry.
He also said that in 2025, the government should consider prioritising the sector to emphasise the essential security roles it plays.
He further said: “We really think that in this 2025, if the government will prioritise aviation and put it in a critical position, which is an essential and security industry, it might make them consider lifting their arms in some areas where we are suffocating very badly.
“We need single-digit loans. We need a window for foreign exchange. We are not asking for grants, but what is considered as government official rate. We need all these things because if we buy our money from government’s source, it helps reduce the concern of our partners. In this case, we source this money from the inflows. So when this money comes, sometimes, the partners are suspicious because the credit may not be going to them from the government banks. So, it is one of the areas that we are looking forward to that government will engage us more.”
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