FG must audit aviation parastatal's IGR - Ojikutu

The Chief Executive Officer, and member Aviation Round Table (ART), Grp. Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), has called on the Federal Government to take a step in auditing the aviation parastatals in order to justify need for foreign exchange concession to foreign airlines.

Ojikutu who made this call recently in Lagos, said apart from providing government the means of assessing the true and aggregate sources of public agencies Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), this act will also revive the institution of fiscal discipline; ensure transparency and accountability in the management of public finance; curb wastages of public funds and reduce corruption in the government agencies financial management system.

According to him, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) are some of the agencies that need the audits more because of the large scale of wastages and corruption that have characterised the management of their IGR and finances over the years.

Ojikutu noted that auditing these agencies revenues would not have been necessary if the NCAA had shown compliance to the NCARs Economic Regulation in its oversight of the IGR of the public and private operators.

These earnings, he noted, could help the responsible authorities in the Ministry of Finance and CBN to take informed decisions, on whether or not foreign airlines could be given foreign exchange concession to transfer their sales earnings to their home offices.

“This could cause some airlines to rescind their decision to stop their operations into Nigeria,” Ojikutu said.

He pointed out that a proper assessment of the agencies will reveal that the problem of the industry is not paucity of funds as believed but acute wastages of IGR and corruption.

He said: “You will discover at the end of your assessment of these agencies IGR that the problem of the Nigerian aviation public agencies is really not the lack of funds and necessarily the need for foreign exchange. The problem of the industry is acute wastages of IGR and corruption.”

Ojikutu therefore stated that foreign airlines should be given considerable concessions to repatriate their earnings to their home office if we consider that they make payment for the services provided them by government agencies in foreign exchange.

However, he said, should CBN decide to extend stringent foreign exchange policy on foreign airlines, they should therefore in return be allowed to pay in Naira for the services provided to them by government services providers (NCAA, FAAN and NAMA) and for Royalties on Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) and Commercial Agreements.