Proposed Law to Plug Regulatory Gaps, Says NCAA

Chinedu Eze
The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, has said the Civil Aviation Bill will soon be passed into law to close existing regulation gaps and further reinforce safety in air travel in Nigeria.

He also said due to the inherent gaps in the system, operators were slipping through and that was the reason why the regulatory agency decided to review the Civil Aviation Act in order to make regulation, compliance as well as acquisition of Air Operators Certificates (AOC) easier for investors and capable of delineating between general aviation service and commercial airline service.

Nuhu further explained that of the 100 business aircraft in Nigeria only about 23 were registered, noting that despite the law that allowed for them to use the aircraft between 6-12 months many have perfected the Act in bypassing the system due to cracks in act, adding that the reviewed Act would close such gaps.

“Out of the 70 per cent of the business registered in general aviation only about 46 are actually active and I guess some were out and they haven’t come back. Yes, it is a bit unusual where you the number of foreign registered aircraft much more than the Nigerian registered in the country and we try to encourage the foreign registered to de-register and register here in Nigeria.
“We are getting there but at a very slow rate and maybe they need to see a more stable macroeconomic environment so they can de-register and put in a Nigerian registration,” Nuhu said.

He said when the aircraft owners develop more confidence in the regulatory function of the agency it would help to develop that confidence.
“We try to work with them to see how they can de register. I’ve seen a couple of request for that and we are making progress. Basically, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation (NCARs) Part 8.2.1.9 allows foreign operations for aircraft from 2-12 months and for an initial six months renewable for another six months. I must say a lot of operators have found a way to go around that requirement by going out and returning to go through the process again.

Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of African Aviation Services Limited and the President of African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA), Nick Fadugba, said right now, the Civil Aviation Act is under review at the National Assembly and once it is passed and signed into law by the President, government would review some of the regulations and promulgate some specific regulations as applies to general aviation “and these are some of the issues we intend to look at and sort but right now we are tied to our own regulations. There are some gaps in the system but we have noticed it once we review the regulations.”

“In addition to that we will like to develop a new regulatory regime for general aviation, to encourage people to encourage the general aviation to be more comfortable to come and take their registration in Nigeria,” Fadugba said.
He decried illegal operations by private aircraft license holders who under one guise or another bypass the gaps to carry out illegal charter, costing the nation revenue and stressed that if caught the full wrath of the law would be used on them.
Fadugba, however, observed that it was sometimes difficult to prove that private aircraft carry charter since most times if the CAA does not get the cooperation of the passengers who use those services.