The House of Representatives has begun a three-day public hearing on six
\nExecutive Bills to reposition the Aviation sector for better service
\ndelivery, expressing worries with low private sector participation.<\/p>\n
The bills are the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) bill, Nigerian
\nCollege of Aviation Technology (NCAT) bill, Nigerian Airspace Management
\nAgency (NCAA) bill, Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) bill and Federal
\nAirport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) bill.<\/p>\n
Declaring the hearing open, the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
\nRep. Femi Gbajabiamila, decried the low turnout of private sector
\nplayers at the hearing.<\/p>\n
He said that the essence of the hearing was to avail stakeholders and
\nindeed the public an opportunity to contribute to the bills, adding that
\nit was a time for private sector players to make their positions known.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole idea of public hearing is for people, interested parties to
\nbe present to contribute whatever observations they have.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the public hearing, it is common for stakeholders from
\nthe private sector that did not show up for the public hearing, to begin
\nto complain when the bill is passed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you can see, not a single person from the private sector is here;
\nthere is a need for the private sector to be at public hearings, when a
\nbill is passed it may be too late to do anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Also, the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, said that the ministry
\nand stakeholders had discussed the bills in the last five years.<\/p>\n
Sirika said that the draft bills were made available to all stakeholders
\nseven months before now.<\/p>\n
According to Sirika, the ministry received some comments from the
\nstakeholders on the draft bill, wondering why they were not at the
\nhearing.<\/p>\n
He recalled that private sector representatives, were in the Senate a
\ncouple of weeks ago for the hearing, expressing concern that they were
\ncompletely absent at the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
The minister said that the journey to amend the laws establishing
\nagencies under the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority began as a result of
\nissues raised in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)
\nUniversal Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) in 2006.<\/p>\n
He said that the report by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
\n(FAA) Category Certi\ufb01cation Audit in 2010 also necessitated the
\nEstablishment Acts for some aviation service providers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became necessary for the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to
\nbe the only and autonomous regulator of Civil Aviation in Nigeria. Thus,
\nNigeria was requested and agreed to take corrective action to address
\nthe audit \ufb01ndings.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsequently, a committee involving the relevant stakeholders was
\nconstituted by me to review the Establishment Acts of the six Aviation
\nAgencies, not only to close the audit \ufb01ndings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is to be done by removing regulatory powers from service provider
\nagencies and also to bring the respective Ads up to date with
\ndevelopment in International Civil Aviation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther reviews are to separate powers among the agencies, facilitate the
\nupgrade of NCAT to degree awarding institution, give NIMET the leverage
\nto commercialise some of its products, and remove impediments in the
\nsmooth running of the functions of all the agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe committee is also to ensure seamless coexistence between the
\nagencies and also to encourage the agencies to initiate avenue of
\ngenerating revenue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sirika said after series of meetings and deliberations, the six draft
\nbills were produced, cleared by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the
\nFederal Executive Council before their transmission to the National
\nAssembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Nnolim Nnaji, said that in
\nrecognition of the importance of the Aviation Sector, the House had
\nconsidered the Executive bills and referred the same to the committee
\nfor further legislative action.<\/p>\n
Nnaji said that the need for the Acts to be repealed and subsequent
\nre-enactment was based on the urgent need to meet the contemporary
\ndemands and international standards for the general development of the
\naviation sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is pertinent to note that since the last review of these agencies,
\nsignificant changes and developments have taken place in the aviation
\nindustry which necessitates the review and amendment of these Acts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is to bring them up to date with the operational requirements and
\ndictates of the industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurtherance to that, there is a compelling need to align the sector
\nwith the international best practices as outlined in the International
\nCivil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish to reiterate the committee\u2019s continued commitment to ensure that
\nthe sector remains one of the best through appropriate legislation and
\noversight.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that at the end of the day, we will have succeeded in bequeathing to
\nNigerians an air industry that is properly regulated and better managed
\nfor greater efficiency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The committee chairman said that aviation was a dynamic industry and
\nrequired constant review of the statutes to keep pace with its
\nobtainable standards.<\/p>\n
Nnaji added that the importance of the sector to the country\u2019s Gross
\nDomestic Product (GDP) and revenue generation could not be over
\nemphasised.<\/p>\n
He said that the committee would collaborate with relevant agencies to
\nensure that appropriate avenues were created for the industry\u2019s economic
\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n
The President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, raised
\nconcerns over the nomenclature of FAAN.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are talking best international standards but I do not know why we
\nwant to remove the word \u201cAuthority\u201d there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot have a Nigerian standard in the aviation sector we must use
\nnomenclatures that are known globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should replace authority with administration which will make
\nthe institution more accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this, we will support the bills,\u201d Wabba said. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The House of Representatives has begun a three-day public hearing on six Executive Bills to reposition the Aviation sector for better service delivery, expressing worries with low private sector participation.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n