Former General Secretary of the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative, John Ojikutu, has urged the House of Representatives to compel the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to contribute five per cent of its airport commercial earnings to the pool funding aviation safety agencies.
Ojikutu made the proposal in a presentation to the House Committee on Aviation, where he called for a comprehensive review of the existing sharing formula for the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge, Cargo Sales Charge and Chartered Flights Charge.
He argued that the current distribution among the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) was neither rational nor reflective of the different responsibilities and operational demands of the agencies.
According to Ojikutu, the formula should consider the number of personnel deployed by each agency, the volume of operational equipment, geographical coverage, operating hours and, most importantly, the safety responsibilities assigned to each institution.
He said the five per cent charges were established to fund mandatory aviation safety services but questioned whether the existing distribution adequately reflected the operational realities facing the agencies.
Ojikutu maintained that institutions carrying significant operational and safety responsibilities should not struggle for funding while critical infrastructure, equipment and personnel require continuous investment.
At the centre of his proposal is FAAN, which he said should no longer be excluded from considerations around contributions to aviation safety funding because of its commercial activities.
He noted that FAAN operates several commercial and non-aeronautical services from which it generates revenue, including passenger terminal services, aircraft landing and parking charges, cargo operations, car parks, toll gates, fuel sales, car-hire services, land and office rentals, shopping malls and restaurants.
Other revenue-generating activities, he said, include airline check-in counters, aerobridges, VIP lounges and other commercial operations within airport facilities.
Ojikutu argued that since these activities generate revenue within the aviation ecosystem, FAAN should contribute to the safety system that supports airport operations and the wider industry.
“FAAN, being a commercial airport services operator, should contribute five per cent of its airport sales service charges into the general pool for aviation safety services,” he said.
Ojikutu also proposed a major redistribution of the existing five per cent safety fund, recommending that NAMA’s allocation be increased from 22 per cent to 40 per cent.
He said the proposed increase was justified by NAMA’s extensive safety responsibilities and the cost of maintaining infrastructure required to keep Nigeria’s airspace safe.
NAMA provides air traffic control and navigational services for commercial, private, government, diplomatic and military aircraft operating within Nigerian airspace.
Ojikutu estimated that NAMA’s workforce comprises more than 800 air traffic controllers, over 500 engineers and technologists, and more than 1,000 administrative and support personnel.
He warned that inadequate funding could expose critical aviation safety infrastructure to risks, particularly when maintenance, replacement and equipment calibration are delayed.
For the NCAA, Ojikutu recommended reducing its share from the current 56 per cent to no more than 40 per cent.
He argued that the regulator already has more than 15 other revenue sources apart from the five per cent aviation charges, making it necessary to reconsider the size of its allocation from the common safety fund.
The proposed review, he said, should ensure that aviation safety funds are distributed according to responsibility, operational exposure and actual funding requirements rather than simply maintaining an outdated formula.
For Ojikutu, the issue goes beyond how aviation revenue is shared.
He said the priority should be ensuring that agencies responsible for the safety of passengers, aircraft and Nigeria’s airspace have adequate resources to carry out their responsibilities effectively.
