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THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015<br />
THE NATION<br />
BUSINESS<br />
15<br />
AVIATION<br />
Agbakoba: Nigeria can save N300b yearly<br />
ACTIVIST lawyer Olisa<br />
Agbakoba (SAN) has<br />
launched a campaign for a<br />
FlyNigeria Law to save the country<br />
N300 billion yearly in capital flight<br />
by foreign operators.<br />
He said under the law there would<br />
be provision for aviation cabotage<br />
to deepen local participation on the<br />
sector.<br />
Many foreign carriers, he said, are<br />
taking advantage of the absence of<br />
such law to repatriate home over<br />
N300 billion through ticket sales.<br />
At a briefing in Lagos, last week,<br />
Agbakoba urged the government to<br />
establish a national carrier to compete<br />
with mega carriers that are<br />
feeding fat on the indigenous market<br />
because of the law’s absence.<br />
He said it was unfortunate that<br />
Nigeria, with its huge potential in<br />
Medview,<br />
FirstBank partner<br />
on online payment<br />
MEDVIEW Airline has signed<br />
an agreement with<br />
FirstBank of Nigeria on the<br />
online payment platform called<br />
MasterCard Internet Gateway Service<br />
(MIGS) where customers with Master/<br />
Visa cards can pay for tickets online.<br />
According to Medview Managing<br />
Director, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, this<br />
is one of the steps to bring its service<br />
closer to clients who desire to buy their<br />
tickets online within the comfort of<br />
their homes or offices.<br />
This payment option, he said, is in<br />
addition to the Interswitch platform<br />
designed mostly for customers with<br />
naira Master cards and the book-onhold<br />
platform where customers could<br />
walk into any bank in Nigeria and pay<br />
for their reservations made online.<br />
To achieve this, Bankole said customer<br />
could make reservation online<br />
and choose the option ‘I want to pay<br />
with Master /Visa card’ when they get<br />
to the payment platform.<br />
He said: “This will automatically<br />
prompt the Master card and Visa Card<br />
logos from where customer can now<br />
click the logo of their desired card for<br />
payments, enter the required card details<br />
and wait for confirmation for payments.<br />
Once this is achieved, ticket will<br />
be automatically sent to the email provided<br />
while making reservation.”<br />
NAHCO, Sokoto<br />
govt strike deal<br />
SOKOTO State Governor- elect<br />
Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal has<br />
pledged to work with the Ni-<br />
gerian Aviation Handling Company<br />
Plc (Nahco Aviance) to ensure the<br />
state’s rapid development .<br />
Tambuwal told visiting directors<br />
of the ground handling company in<br />
Sokoto last week that his administration<br />
would require the firm’s expertise<br />
in every area critical to economic<br />
development.<br />
Nachco Aviance Chairman Mallam<br />
Suleiman Yahyah, who led the directors<br />
on the visit, pledged to help<br />
attract foreign investments to the<br />
state.<br />
NAHCO offered to partner the state<br />
government to develop its potential<br />
in such a way that would make<br />
Sokoto a global force in the areas<br />
where it has comparative advantage.<br />
Yahyah pledged NAHCO’s assistance<br />
in facilitating foreign investors<br />
who will assist the state government<br />
develop its mineral resources,<br />
thereby creating employment for the<br />
youth of the state.<br />
Tambuwal said his administration<br />
was grateful for NAHCO’s offer and<br />
would consult the company to know<br />
the requirements that would lead to<br />
the accelerated development of the<br />
state.<br />
from aviation cabotage<br />
By Kelvin Osa-okubor<br />
aviation, is creating wealth for others.<br />
Agbakoba canvassed a review of<br />
the bilateral and multi-lateral air<br />
agreements to enable Nigeria compete<br />
with developed countries, adding<br />
that in the past few years, his<br />
firm has been campaigning for a<br />
FlyNigeria law, to push the development<br />
of aviation with special regard<br />
for Nigeria’s technical abilities,<br />
capacity and growth.<br />
He said: “We are conscious of the<br />
introduction of aviation cabotage,<br />
which will constitute a positive step<br />
towards stimulating the development<br />
of indigenous capacity and<br />
facilitate the pursuit for deep local<br />
AN airline operator has<br />
criticised the Federal Airports<br />
Authority of Nigeria<br />
(FAAN) for the “high” cost leasing<br />
of land around airports.<br />
Mr Allen Onyema, Chairman of<br />
Air Peace, said the lease is too costly<br />
for “struggling” domestic airlines<br />
which want to build maintenance<br />
hangars.<br />
He said the cost is a disincentive to<br />
domestic operators who want to reduce<br />
the huge costs of taking their<br />
aircraft overseas for major maintenance.<br />
Besides, he said, FAAN has made<br />
it difficult for some operators to get<br />
approval for such facilities, which can<br />
create jobs and improve local capacity<br />
in avionics and aeronautical development.<br />
In an interview with The Nation,<br />
Onyema claimed that FAAN charged<br />
him over N160 million for the lease<br />
of a land to build an hangar at the<br />
Lagos Airport. He wondered where<br />
FAAN expected his company to raise<br />
participation in the aviation sector.<br />
‘’The scope of the bill could be<br />
enlarged to cover legislation on local<br />
content in respect of skills and<br />
service delivery. It will no doubt<br />
add commercial value to Nigerian<br />
domestic airlines, necessitating<br />
infrastructural development and<br />
job creation.<br />
“This has become important because<br />
in other countries such cabotage<br />
law with its attendant regulation<br />
are effectively used to support<br />
local operators.<br />
“The FlyNigeria Bill, we are pursuing<br />
will be modelled after the<br />
United States regulation which requires<br />
that government sponsored<br />
passengers, employees, consultants,<br />
contractors and other persons performing<br />
government financed air<br />
travel fly US flag air carriers.<br />
“We are convinced that this will<br />
work in Nigeria if we empower our<br />
domestic carriers. This would save<br />
the nation over N300 billion annually<br />
taken out by foreign carriers.”<br />
According to Agbakoba, there is<br />
need for a sustainable policy to accelerate<br />
the development of the<br />
aviation sector.<br />
The major challenge of the industry<br />
is the absence of a development<br />
plan, adding that if an Aviation Sector<br />
Action Plan (ASAP) would accelerate<br />
the development of a comprehensive<br />
national aviation policy.<br />
Agbakoba added: “With about 170<br />
million persons and regional economic<br />
potential, over 24 airports,<br />
a growing mass of flying middle<br />
class, Nigeria’s aviation requires<br />
massive revamping in terms of infrastructure,<br />
legal, institutional<br />
and administrative frameworks.<br />
“Beyond physical infrastructures,<br />
which are basically physical,<br />
the requirement is for a soft<br />
institutional framework. These<br />
critical issues underpin the most<br />
important aspects of aviation;<br />
functionality, safety, security, and<br />
profitability.<br />
“It is expected that the incoming<br />
Minister of Aviation will consider<br />
taking up and actualising the intended<br />
legislation. The ASAP can<br />
as well encapsulate various innovations<br />
towards the development<br />
of a comprehensive National Aviation<br />
Policy.”<br />
From left: Managing Director, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) Mr. Oluropo Owolabi; representstive of International Air<br />
Transport Association (IATA) Mrs. Ewemade Atake and President, Association of Foreign Airlines in Nigeria (AFAN), Mr. Kingsley Nwokoma, at the<br />
end of SAHCOL’s safety week at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja,Lagos.<br />
Airport land lease too costly, says operator<br />
such money.<br />
Onyema said most aviation agencies<br />
were frustrating domestic carriers’<br />
efforts to lease land at airports<br />
nationwide, claiming that the agencies<br />
delay approval they also charge<br />
arbitrary fees.<br />
He said: “The government should<br />
create a conducive atmosphere for<br />
domestic airlines to operate. It is not<br />
about proposal to merge airlines.<br />
The operating costs are too high; we<br />
want lower taxes, charges and elimination<br />
of five per cent ticket sales<br />
charged by the Nigerian Civil Aviation<br />
Authority (NCAA). This is eating<br />
deep into our costs of operations.<br />
It is beyond merger of airlines. Airlines<br />
have the capacity to operate but<br />
they need a conducive environment.”<br />
Onyema went on: “The government<br />
should put in place a policy<br />
that would enable airlines access<br />
single interest rate on bank loans.<br />
“Buhari should address the policies<br />
that affect aviation, the issue of<br />
taxation and the operating environment.<br />
The government must appoint<br />
somebody who has business acumen<br />
to run the sector.<br />
“The minister has done his best,<br />
but we want somebody with business<br />
background, the government<br />
should address the issues of policy,<br />
double taxation and how the airlines<br />
could operate profitably,” Onyema<br />
said.<br />
He continued: “There have been a<br />
lot of talk about the aviation sector<br />
in Nigeria, which is mostly influenced<br />
by lack of knowledge about<br />
the sector by so called experts.<br />
“The bulk of the critics heaps<br />
blames on airline operators as being<br />
the problem of the industry<br />
which is not true.<br />
“What is key in the industry is that<br />
operators are playing their role and<br />
doing their best.<br />
‘’But with the existing structures in<br />
the industry the growth of domestic<br />
airlines cannot be sustained. No domestic<br />
airline will do well if the policies<br />
that stunt growth are sustained.<br />
“The way out is for the government<br />
to design appropriate policies that<br />
would create a conducive operating<br />
environment.<br />
“The operating environment for<br />
domestic carriers in Nigeria is too<br />
harsh. It is not about airlines merger<br />
But the taxes are too many. With this<br />
kind of condition if sustained no airline<br />
will survive.<br />
“If there were good policies in place,<br />
the type that brings about lowering of<br />
airport taxes, and other charges Nigerian<br />
airlines would do well.<br />
“The cost of procuring land from the<br />
airport authority to build aircraft maintenance<br />
hangar is prohibitive.<br />
“If the government wants to support<br />
the growth of airlines, it must put in<br />
place policies that would enable domestic<br />
airlines lease land at lower<br />
rates. The wickedness of government<br />
agencies in frustrating domestic carriers<br />
seeking to get land around the airport<br />
should be looked into,” Onyema<br />
said.