GOVT ASKS EFCC TO STEP IN AS AVIATION FIRM, UNION DISAGREE OVER N17B
THE Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), has invited the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to investigate an allegation against Maevis Aviation Services Limited that it withheld N17 billion belonging to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association (ATSSSAN) had met with the Ministers of Justice, Aviation and Labour and Productivity over the parlous state of the agency, occasioned by non-remittance of money collected on FAAN's behalf by its concessionaires.
The directive was given in a statement after the meeting held between the unions in the aviation industry and Adoke, Ministers of Aviation; Fidelia Njeze, Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Wogu on December 20, 2010 at the conference room, Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja.
The Managing Director of Maevis, Mr. Biodun Fagbemi, in a text message to The Guardian denied that he was asked to be investigated.
In a statement that was jointly signed by Adoke, Njeze, Wogu, Secretary General of NUATE, Gideon Ogbuji, General Secretary of ATSSSAN, Frank Sunny Aiyede and the Assistant General Secretary of NAAPE, Umoh Ofonime Tom, they noted that it was necessary for government to review the agreement to save FAAN from its financial difficulty.
On the issue of debtor airlines, they equally directed the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, and the managing director of the FAAN, Richard Aisuebeogun, to take appropriate action to recover the debts said to be in the region of N10 billion.
Adoke and Njeze however stated that if there were specific labour issues, the unions would make a presentation to the Minister of Labour and Productivity on them, just as they urged the unions to maintain peace to allow 'this process achieve the desired result.'
The unions had threatened to shut down the airspace if the issue of concessions in the aviation industry were not resolved, just as they claimed that Maevis had reneged on its agreement.
There were claims and counter-claims recently over whether Maevis Nigeria Limited was indebted to FAAN to the tune of N17 billion or not after some members of ATSSSAN protested at the airport.
But Maevis' Head of Credit Control, Wemimo Olowolade, had said recently that for Lagos airport alone, between August 2008 and November 2010, the company had invoiced N25.7 billion and had remitted N21 billion to FAAN. She said the company remitted $6.2 million to FAAN after it invoiced $7.2 million on aeronautical charges alone.
As for Abuja airport, he said the company had invoiced N2.8 billion and had remitted N1.6 billion to FAAN.
'We are not owing FAAN N17 billion because customers pay the money through Zenith and Skye Bank and it will not be possible for us to owe such amount, our performance has always been between 90 and 100 per cent at these airports,' the company said.
Speaking in the same vein, Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Anyim Ude, said in the course of their investigation, 'we discovered that one issue clearly related to this incident is the huge debt owed FAAN by several public and private agencies as well as concessionaires.'
The debt burden he said had virtually crippled FAAN, as the service provider was unable to adequately provide services and rehabilitate the infrastructural facilities at airports, including the Murtala Muhammed International Airport constructed over 30 years ago.
He disclosed that the latest figures made available to the committee showed that 'the total debt owed to FAAN is N17, 939,543, 233.''
The debts he said could be divided into six. He listed them as airlines N9, 266, 459, 324; management concessionaires N4, 747, 163, 917; handling companies N1, 757,362,787; government agencies 562,52,288; and oil marketers N433, 336, 758.
He decried alleged interference in the collection process by management and those he described as highly placed government officials, adding that FAAN workers were said to be often discouraged, threatened and sometimes their appointments terminated by management and government officials for insisting on recovering debts owed to FAAN.