Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has notified debtor airlines still withholding the five (5) per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) which ought to be remmited to the Authority that they have thirty days to pay up.
In a final notice to all Airline operators, the Regulatory Authority said failure to act in accordance with the directiveof remittance of the outstanding payments; the Authority shall enforce the provisions of section 27(3) of the Civil Aviation Act.
The NCAA in a statement signed by Fan Ndubuoke, generla manager public affairs, said it
will take all measures contained therein to enforce the collection of the debts and the names of the debtor Airlines and amount owed shall be published in at least five national dailies.
‘The names of the promoters of these airlines, directors and other related parties will be included in the publication upon the expiration of this ultimatum.
These measures will be taken in furtherance to the Federal Government’s directives on recovery of public debt. It is to be noted that the offending airlines have failed to offset the accumulated debts despite several appeals, reconciliation meetings, visits and reminders.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) wishes to reiterate to the Airlines that section 12(1) of the Civil Aviation Act.2006 provides that “there shall continue to be a 5% air ticket contract, charter and cargo sales charge to be collected by the Airlines and paid over to the Authority,” it threatened.
The statement further noted, ‘Importantly, the Authority wishes to inform the general public that the 5% Ticket /Cargo Sales Charge represents charges collected at source from the travelling public by Airlines on behalf of the Civil Aviation Agencies.However, its non remittance as at when due is tantamount to a breach of trust and a violation of the above provision.
Therefore, the Authority is issuing the ultimatum to the operators who have collected but failed to remit same to the Authority to do that within 30 days.
In addition, NCAA will continue to implement the “no payment no service” financial policy to ensure complete clearance of the indebtedness to the Authority’.