Reps panel summons NCAA over alleged revenue misappropriation

The house of representatives committee on finance has summoned the management of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) over the misappropriation of revenue generated in 2022.

The committee, chaired by James Faleke, issued the summons during an interactive session with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday.

According to NAN, the documents submitted to the committee by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) showed that 16 million passengers were transported by local airlines while three million passengers were transported by international airlines in 2022.

Also, the report showed that N1.28 trillion was realised from tickets sold to international passengers, out of which N64 billion represented five percent shared by the five regulatory agencies in 2022.

The committee also obtained a document from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), which showed that a total of 14,572,614 passengers were airlifted by local airlines in 2021.

However, NCAA’s revenue declaration showed that N12.7 billion was generated from the share of the gross revenue allotted to regulatory agencies in the industry.

The breakdown of NCAA’s revenue share showed that N31 billion was realised from local passengers and N35.85 billion was realised from international flights for the period under review.

According to the records provided to the committee, 5 percent of all tickets sold to local and international airlines were distributed among five regulatory agencies.

A breakdown of the sharing formula showed that 56 percent of the amount is for NCAA, 22 percent is for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nine percent is for the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET), seven percent is for the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT).

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) received six percent.

In response to the allegations, NCAA representatives, Ibrahim Dambazau and Abubakar Gachi, claimed that some local airlines were working for the agency and were indebted to NCAA.

Despite their explanations, Faleke said the revenue of N12.7 billion was below the computed gross revenue share received by NCAA worth N66 billion realised from both revenues accrued from local and international travels for 2022.

The lawmaker, however, requested for NCAA’s audited reports from 2015 to the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, as well as a comprehensive report of the NCAA banks operated before the transition to treasury single account (TSA).

The committee also requested a list of all local airlines that were indebted to the NCAA.