The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has directed aviation agencies to recover the huge debts owed them by airlines and terminal facility operators before the end of September.

Sirika who gave the directive stated that the government needs the money for the development of the industry and remittance to federation account. Agencies are required to remit 25 percent of their earnings to the federal government account to enable the government meet its obligations to the people.

Sequel to the directive, the agencies such as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), have intensified their debt collection drive and have forced airlines to abort their operations.

It was also gathered that some of the airlines have started paying up the debts while some have met the agencies to reconcile their debts and work out repayment plan.

Also, the pay as you go policies of NAMA and FAAN have been reinforced to ensure that henceforth airlines do not owe the agencies.

A source at NAMA disclosed that the agency is owed N8.08 billion; the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) owed N12 billion, while FAAN is owed N20 billion as at the time of filing this report.

It was also gathered that NCAA has introduced no-pay, no-service policy, whereby every airline must pay before the agency would attend to its needs such as issuing certificates to its crew, aircraft inspection after maintenance among others.

Almost all the debts are said to be owed by domestic airlines as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) collects charges from international operators for the aviation agencies.

•Excerpted from a THISDAY report. Photo shows Senator Hadi Sirika.

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