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.
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