By Lawani Mikairu & Daniel Eteghe

Aviation Round Table, ART, a non-governmental organisation in the aviation industry, has called for a stronger Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to enable the Authority discharge its functions creditably. This is just as the group  accused the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, of misplaced priorities in the bailout and takeover of some airlines in the sector.

Speaking with  aviation reporters  at the weekend in Lagos, its President, Mr. Gbenga Olowo in his maiden speech after being elected to lead the organisation, traced the current woes in the sector to a weak NCAA.

Olowo explained that aside the random checks on aircraft at the tarmac, the economic regulation of NCAA had failed to live up to expectations of stakeholders and professionals over the years.

Olowo who argued that a stronger, viable and independent NCAA would be able to make airlines come together and seek a way of taking them out of the doldrums, opined that the current domestic operators should be merged to two or maximum three to make them stronger, profitable and more reliable in their operations.

He said: “The Civil Aviation Authority, CAA, should be the government of aviation like we have it in the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, in the United States, which is the only government agency on transport.

“Our NCAA is not there yet. The zeal of NCAA ended when Dr. Harold Demuren left the agency. The current Director-General is more or less a civil servant. We need a vibrant CAA that will be able to take the sector to higher level. It is a shame that we don’t have any airline in this country. When we go outside the country for aviation conferences, people ask us ‘where are your airlines?’ We need a stronger NCAA for us to move forward.”

The group also queried the sincerity of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON, in bailing out  some airlines in the sector.

ART maintained that the survival of any airline in the industry did not depend on the payment of debts owned financial institutions by airlines, but funds to increase their business operations and gradual payment of their debts to the banks.

Olowo stressed that rather than bailout the airlines, the government could channel such funds to the development of the agencies in the sector to better provide improved facilities and equipment to the users.

“How has AMCON been disbursing the funds? Is it to private pockets? We didn’t see intervention of government in that direction as sincere. AMCON has missed it because the airlines want to run and operate to pay its debts. We need two to three strong Nigerian airlines. The Director of Securities and Exchange Commissions, SEC, and AMCON should sit down and bring the assets of these airlines together and midwife how we can have only two to three airlines,” he said.