By Chuks Okoh
The Federal Government has threatened to disengage all illegal private jet operators embarking on commercial activities in Nigeria. They were given till February 5, 2015 to regularise their operations failing which they will be grounded by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The Minister of aviation Chief Osita Chidoka while launching a project by the Aviation Ministry, “Aviation Commits” yesterday in Lagos.
This is just as the minister disclosed that there are about 90 private aircraft in the country engaged in General Aviation (GA).
According to Chidoka these aircraft that were registered for private use are now engaged in chartered operations in the country, adding that Nigerian as a sovereign state cannot continue tolerate this.
He said that private registered aircraft must learn to play by the rules and that they should either operate in accordance of the operation which they registered for or regularise their operations with NCAA.
The minister stated that any of these aircraft which fails to regularise will not be allowed to fly in Nigeria airspace.
Chidoka added that he has directed NCAA to ground any of the private registered aircraft, who uses their aircraft to do chartered operations and who fails to regularise their operations on or before February 5, 2015.
He also stated that henceforth, renewal of Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) will be based on the ability of airlines to produce plans on how they hope to train their personnel yearly.
The Aviation Minister explained that this condition became necessary following discovery that airlines in the country prefer to poach one another’s personnel instead of investing in training.
According to him, “For airlines to renew their AOC,he must show us plan to train personnel and if they cannot produce this yearly plan ,their AOC’s will not be renewed”
The Minister also directed that beginning from July 1 2015, all airlines operating in Nigeria both local and international engaged in General Aviation (GA) and commercial aviation in Nigeria must have a Nigerian pilot in their cockpit.
“We cannot grow Nigeria without Nigerians ” he said
Speaking further, the Aviation Minister said that beginning from Tuesday, February 3, 2015(yesterday), paying of cargo sale charge by importers of agriculture products has been.
Chidoka stated that it was discovered that cargo charges in Nigeria is the highest of the 14 countries surveyed, adding that the charges.
Also speaking, the Vice President, Nnamdi Sambo, represented by the Minister of National Planning, Abubakar Suleiman, said that the Federal Government has achieved a lot in the last four years in the aviation industry.
He mentioned the remodelling of airports, securing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Category 1 in 2010, which according to him was revalidated by FAA in 2014.
He assured Nigerians that the Federal Government would sustain the temple of the achievements in the sector
