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AON Disagrees on Merger of Aviation Agencies


Aviation  stakeholders  have continued to condemn the planned merger of three agencies in the  sector as Airline Operators of Nigeria - AON added voice by not supporting the idea.

The AON says the decision  to join NAMA,with NCAA and NIMET to form FCAA was against the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulation in section 8335.

According to ICAO, “Separation of provision from regulation  is consistent  with principles of good governance; the regulatory oversight function must be seen as independent and transparent” ICAO which is made up of 197 countries member state over 110 have complied and have moved on with the demerger of agencies. Germany, UK, France, Russia, Ireland, Canada, Ukraine to number a few are some of the 110 countries that have demerged


 Chairman of AON, Capt. Nogie Meggison in a chat with aviation journalists said, autonomy for the air navigation services provider and its separation from the regulatory oversight function was well established in ICAO guidance material.

  "It is not right to have the NCAA as the referee and the player at the same time. NCAA has been statutory established in compliance with ICAO set standards and practices

"We believe information that was given to the committee set up in 2011 to make that decision is obviously now obsolete and outdated as per ICAO regulation which Nigeria is not only a signatory to but also the first African ICAO President today is a Nigerian who headed the committee who in 1999 separated the demurred the agencies from the then federal Civil Aviation Authority, FCAA as per the above ICAO quoted regulation. Even United States of America that we are using as one of the strong point used by the committee are in the process of demerging. The process is currently in the Congress to pass the Act on the NextGen regulation that will separate the agencies from each other".

"It is baffling that countries like South Africa and Ghana came to Nigeria to learn about our independent agencies and how they run as per ICAO regulations have gone back to their countries to comply what they came to learn from us. Unfortunately, Nigeria is attempting to go back to the obsolete form. It is like move from analogue to digital and decides to go back to analogue system again.

He disclosed that the country was doing everything to fail the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) category one aviation status.

"We know that government is trying to cut cost because of the recurrent expenditure being 80% of the budget, but these agencies are self-sustaining with without government funding them. we plead with the government that they should take a second look at the recommendation because of the danger it portends to the industry at large".


 

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