NCAA insists on automation of 5% TSC as requirement for issuance of AOC
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said that going forward, airline operators seeking to obtain Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the agency must sign a tripartite agreement for the automatic deduction of 5 per cent Ticket Sales Charge as one of the basic requirements.
The Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, disclosed this during his interaction with aviation correspondents in Lagos recently.
According to him, the motive for the automation of 5 per cent TSC deduction is to encourage on-time remittance of all statutory charges due for the agency, and to dissuade the airlines from the habit of turning the sales charge into debts.
He said the agency has signed a tripartite agreement with the airlines to integrate the automation process, and all the airlines have keyed into it to set a standard for new operators seeking AOC.
“The five percent ticket charge almost all the airlines have integrated, what we’ve done now is that, if you are coming in, we are not going to give you an AOC until you sign the tripartite agreement for the automatic deduction to save all the ‘wahala’ so we don’t start arguing after six months. If you are going to renew too, we ensure that you must have signed that,” said Nuhu.
Asked how much the agency has generated from the 5 per cent TSC and CSC (Cargo Sales Charge), Nuhu said “I don’t have the figures, honestly …but it’s less than pre-COVID. But I think it’s an improvement from what we got last year, but the exact figures I don’t know.
The 5 per cent TSC is charged from the total amount of tickets sold to passengers. The airlines are under obligation to collect and remit to the regulatory authority.
This is in line with Section 12 (1) of the Civil Aviation Act 2006, which says that “There shall continue to be a 5 percent air ticket contract, charter, and cargo sales charge to be collected by the airlines and paid over to the Authority.”
The NCAA boss also said the agency has taken measures to stop airlines’ debts from growing into legacy debts.
“For the legacy debts, we are working with the operators to come out with plans and a lot of them have complied and very soon we are going to start talking to them one by one on how to settle their whole debt.
“We know we are all in difficult times, so we can’t say give us all our money but also you have to bring a reasonable plan on how you want to settle this amount,” said Nuhu.
On how much was the legacy debt, Nuhu said “I don’t want to give you wrong figures. I don’t want to say what I’m not sure of. When we tell you, airlines are going to say “no it’s not that.’ So we will sit down and do a reconciliation meeting. We bring our numbers, you bring your numbers. If you don’t agree, you bring evidence of payment so that is why I don’t want to give numbers.
“There is this reconciliation meeting ongoing with the airlines and I have to thank the chairman and vice chairman AON, they came to meet us and extended an olive branch and we are working on that,” Nuhu said.
On the agency’s relationship with the airlines, Nuhu said the perception of stakeholders in the industry was that the NCAA, under his watch, has no cordial relationship with the airlines but that was not true.
According to him, “I think we have the best relationship with the airlines now, I have not seen any problem with the relationship. Of course, one or two people have complained, but if we have 50, 30, 20 operators and one or two people complain, it’s normal. There is no big deal about it.”
He added that “Nobody in NCAA can ground any operator without the approval of the DG, absolutely nobody, nobody can ground anybody. I will have you know that as the DG, I am the only person that can ground any operator but we have a good relationship with the airlines and operators but of course, it’s not everybody that would be happy with us; that is normal.”
