By Omoh Gabriel, Business Editor
If the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria were a bank, a private sector operator who borrowed money and was unable to pay or a political opponent to be silenced, may be many of the officials of the agency would have been chatting with the EFCC operatives who would have called a press conference on the arrest of officials who have enriched themselves with public funds put under their care.

Here is a situation as revealed by facts that huge sums of money generated at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport is misused and misapplied by officials who in a bid to cover up, are inciting gullible unions against the concessionaire contracted to collect revenue on behalf of the agency.

The concessionaire, Maevis, with the help of the technology they have put in place at the airport, has raised the revenue profile of FAAN. From about N15.4 billion FAAN was generating from the 21 air ports across the country, the concessionaire at the International wing of the airport has generated about N25 billion into the coffers of FAAN.

The revenue generated has not only blocked the illegal revenue being earned by officials of FAAN, it has exposed their incompetence and high level corruption that has led to the call for the review of the concessionaire’s terms as well as the demand for it to be stopped from operating in other airports so that the merry can continue to go round.

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mr. Aisuebeogun in 2008 had told the visiting chairman, Hon. Bethel Amadi and members of the House of Representatives Committee on the state of the airports, that his management was exploring all avenues, including aeronautical and non-aeronautical, towards improving the Authority’s revenue generation.

The FAAN boss lamented that the major setback was the non-payment of debts owed by airlines and some other government agencies. He said the Authority had already gotten the consent of the Federal Government to work out measures aimed at recovering over N4.5 billion owed the Authority by the airlines.

But all that is over now as most debts have been collected

In the same vein, the Chairman, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Ebitemi Banigo in Kano in 2009 said that FAAN is to embark on aggressive revenue generation to strengthen itself financially, Banigo, who spoke during FAAN’s visit to the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) said the drive became inevitable because FAAN workers must embrace change. He said the programme would involve public-private partnership geared towards revamping airports across the country.

Banigo added that FAAN management would not compromise partnership deal and all stakeholders would be treated fairly.

The chairman stressed that the partnership would enhance cooperation between the private sector and the management. He urged all FAAN workers to support the initiative. “As previous attempts seem to have failed, the management now has a critical view about this target and we need concerted effort on the part of the staff to actualise our dream.

We have no option than to change our approach to work in order to achieve this goal,” Banigo said. But this is no longer the case as some top officials of the Agency bent on frustrating the Private-Public Partnership at the airport have deliberately misinformed the Minister of Aviation, Fidelia Njeze, who has cried foul before the fact that Maevis Nigeria Limited failed to remit the money collected on behalf of FAAN.

As at last week, officials of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority are in a fix as to how the huge sums of money collected and paid into the organisation’s account found its way to various other accounts for which a ridiculous interest is being paid.

The question being asked is who gave the top officials the authority to pay such amount into their private accounts for which they are now alleging that the private firm hired to generate revenue on its behalf is holding onto?

The officials are finding it hard to explain how N2.4 billion out of the N25 billion paid into FAAN account was diverted to private accounts. Payment data gathered from various aviation sources as well as bankers to FAAN and Maevis, the service provider, show that on monthly basis, millions of naira are remitted by the two banks engaged by Maevis and FAAN to collect fees and taxes on behalf of FAAN. The two banks – Zenith and Skye banks – have discharged their obligation faithfully, it was learnt.

According to the data made available to Vanguard, between August 2008 and December 2008, Mervis invoiced a total of N3.946 billion out of which N2.834 billion was collected and paid to FAAN. During the same period, it invoiced $1.463 million out of which $776,001-was paid and remitted to the coffers of FAAN.

Available payment sheet show that between January 2009 and December, the sum of N11.222 billion was invoiced to various users of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport of which N10.334 billion was paid into the coffers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria for 2009. In the same vein, international flights and users were taxed $2.975 million but $3.086 million was paid into the account of FAAN.

Last year, between January and December the sum of N11.635 billion was the total fees  assessment of  users of the Murtala International Airport and of this amount, N 9.676 billion was paid to FAAN. Similarly, international passengers and flights out and into the airport were charged $3.339 million out of  which $2.780 million was collected and paid into FAAN’s account.

In the three-year period, the total taxes and fees invoiced at the Murtala Mohammed Airport alone was N26.805 billion out of which N22.845 billion was collected on behalf of the service provider and paid into the account of FAAN.

Also for the three-year period, while the sum of $7.778 million was charged on international flights into and out of the airport, the sum of $6.642 million was paid into the FAAN account from the takings at the International wing of  Murtala Mohammed Airport alone.

For Abuja International Airport which Maevis was asked to provide services from November 2009, revenue generated for FAAN for the two months – November to December – was N471.067 million and N31.584 million was paid into FAAN account. Between January 2010 and December, the total charge was N2.698 billion out of which N1.965 billion was collected and paid to FAAN. In the same year at Abuja Airport, of the $1.574 million charges for international flights into and out of the airport, $610,178.16 was collected and paid to FAAN

A revenue generation profile of FAAN before private sector service provider was engaged showed that in 1999, the total revenue generated by FAAN in the 21 airports across the country was N7.188 billion out of which N4.465 billion was received as income while N2.722 billion was unpaid. In the year 2000, the total revenue generated by FAAN was N6.229 billion out of which N4.880 billion was collected.

FAAN generated the sum of N10.684 billion, N14.534 billion and N15.258 billion in 2003, 2004 and 2005 respectively. However, it collected N10.197 billion for 2003, N12.688 billion for 2004, and N14.488 billion for 2005.
In 2006, of the N15.629 billion generated, it was able to collect N13.383 billion for the 21 airports in the country. In 2007, while it generated N15.687 billion, the total amount it collected in the 21 airport was N13.384 billion.

Controversy over the finances of FAAN has been raging in the last few days leading to a meeting with the Attorney-General of the Federation .

It will be recalled that following allegations by the Minister of Aviation, Fidelia Njeze, that Maevis Nigeria Limited failed to remit the money collected on behalf of FAAN, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, had called for a meeting with the concessionaire, the two banks that funded the project and on which platform the charges were collected, and FAAN on December 23, to find out why Maevis did not remit the said money to the Authority.

The meeting, however, did not hold because officials of FAAN could not make it to the meeting Both the Minister of Aviation and FAAN officials are refusing to answer any further questions on the revenue generated, preferring to be unavailable.

According to sources, at the meeting of December 23, at which FAAN was absent from presentations made by Skye and Zenith banks, it was discovered that the concessionaire had, in fact, remitted to FAAN all the money it collected on the Authority’s behalf. However, the Aviation Minister, at whose instigation the AGF had called the meeting was absent.

The AGF, having studied the financial transactions tendered by Maevis, Skye Bank and Zenith Bank, rescheduled the meeting when FAAN would be expected to explain what it did with the money and whether it got adequate approval to do it.

A source at the meeting disclosed that the AGF was puzzled as to how the aviation minister could have been so deceived by the management of FAAN and wondered why she had not first studied the matter carefully before crying foul. A source in the AGF’s office said that the money involved is too big to be ignored by the Federal Government; adding that the presidency is also interested in the outcome of the meeting. “The allegations are too weighty and the deception unprecedented”.

This is not the first time FAAN is meddling with concessionaires.

The former concessionaire of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Pan Express Nigeria Limited in 2008 staged a comeback five months after it was stripped of the power of attorney as port charges collector for the authority.

The company was late last year de-listed by former Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba on the non-remittance of over N600 million it collected as Port Charges on behalf of the Authority.

Maevis, one of the concessionaires of the Authority had sued FAAN challenging the alleged plan of the defendant to cede part of its revenue generating sources to another company against the tenets of the agreement between the two parties which granted exclusivity to Maevis to collect all revenues for FAAN.

The big question is, with this kind of behaviour by government officials and civil servants, how will the private sector have confidence in the system to invest in infrastructure in the country? Little wonder attracting the right kind of foreign direct investment into the country is a hard nut.