DG NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu
The Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu has appealed to stakeholders in the industry to seek clarifications on issues from the Authority rather than make wide allegations and comments.
He said, such allegations and comments are capable of creating bad blood and causing problems in the system.
Capt. Nuhu made the appeal while speaking with newsmen on the issues concerning extension of Air Operators Certificate, AOC and the granting of multiple designation to foreign airlines.
Giving clarification on the AOC extension, Capt. Nuhu said, it is annoying when some certain people who are respected members of the industry and are supposed to be the conduit for the industry, make force comments for whatever reasons without seeking NCAA clarifications.
According to the him, extension of AOC for some operating airlines is for the system to continue to ensure that all regulatory requirements are complied with for the renewal.
Explaining further, Capt. Nuhu said, sometimes for some reasons, some operators are not able to meet certain requirements on time or the problem maybe theirs and cannot complete the process and thus, instead of disrupting the system, an extension is given for that period so that they can continue their operations.
“Before the extension completes, their renewal is given. People just talk without seeking clarifications. So, we look at the situations, give them extension while we continue to work to complete the renewal process. Renewal is not automatic. It is a process with steps, which must be completed”.
He adds, “To renew AOC, there are certain conditions and processes that must be completed. If for whatever reason, either from the operator or the NCAA, we cannot complete those processes before the expiration of the AOC, we will extend it for them”.
On the maximum period of extension, the NCAA boss stated that, “The most we have given if I am not mistaken is 90 days, but usually, it is hardly more than 30 days. We do this thing so that the system will keep functioning. You can imagine if we are unable to complete the process either on the part of the airline or NCAA, we now ground one or two airlines, can you imagine the chaos that we will have in the industry?”.
He assured the public including stakeholders that, the NCAA is open and ready to answer questions from the public, adding that, when they hear stories, they can come to them and seek clarifications, rather than go out there and make wild comments, which aggravate the system.
“I expect people to seek clarifications. When you don’t seek clarifications and you go and make statements that are contrary, you are only making more problems for the industry”.
“So, people need to understand, rather than the blanket condemnation without clarifications on what the actual issue is and why we are doing what we do”.
“It is the same people that will turn around and insult us if we don’t renew the AOC of a particular airline. Whatever you do, head or tail, you lose”.
On multiple designation to foreign airlines, Capt. Nuhu said, “Unfortunately NCAA is not the one responsible for BASA negotiations to airlines. It is a policy issue and this is led by the Ministry. NCAA makes its own contributions, but the final decision is by the Ministry. So, anyone that blames NCAA for that is either out of lack of understanding of how BASA negotiations work for Nigeria; and every country has its own peculiarity on how they do BASA. In Nigeria, it is the ministry”.
