The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr Kabir Mohammed, has threatened to sanction the agency personnel, staff of government agencies and others who extort passengers.

There have been several reports of airport workers using different ways to extort travellers, especially the international travellers but Mohammed said that FAAN had stepped in  by engaging  the services of “mystery staff” at the four international airports of the country.

He revealed this during the one-day sensitisation programme on Airport Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality (ASQ) initiative organised by the Directorate of Airport Operations and held at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) on Monday, December 4.

He explained that the responsibility of the mystery staff was to take note of the activities of staff at the airports and report same to management.

He warned that anyone caught in such act this Yuletide season would face disciplinary consequences.

The FAAN boss challenged representatives of all the government agencies that operate at the airport namely; Customs, Immigration, Quarantine, Police, and all others to be at their absolute best when carrying out their day-to-day activities.

He encouraged the spirit of collaboration among personnel of various agencies at the airport.

“We are one airport and if there’s any wrongdoing, people don’t bother to know which agency did the wrong. They only know the airport where they were wronged,” he maintained.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mohammed Odunowo, next Monday, over missing N43 billion revenue accruing from sales of both local and international air tickets between 2021 and 2022.

Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abiodun James Faleke, issued the threat notice during the resumed hearing in Abuja, frowned at the level of disrespect for the Parliament.

Worried by the NAMA helmsman’s refusal to honour the two invitations sent to him by the Committee, Faleke said: “When we did the calculation, I recall that we recorded about N43 billion deficit. And of course, NCAA said they do not agree with the number provided by FAAN. The data whatever, that it couldn’t have been up to that

And FAAN said that this was not generated by them but generated by NAMA. And there’s a record – the ADR 16 that generates that. So, we asked them to come back with NAMA and with specific data from that ADR 16.

“And today, we have NCAA before us. Unfortunately NAMA is not here. I don’t know why, this is the second time, the next time we are going to issue a warrant of arrest on NAMA. If he fails to appear before us on Monday, we will issue warrant of arrest on NAMA boss,” he ruled.

After grilling the NCAA delegation, the Committee asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant General of the Federation to provide details of all the accounts being operated by Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

While frowning at the Agency’s failure to provide the data from the ADR 16, the lawmakers emphasised the need for NCAA to provide relevant documents showing detailed reports of total passengers carried by all the airlines on monthly basis, how passengers carried to various destinations, ticket fees charged per airline and 5 percent of the charges.

The lawmakers also demanded for bank accounts of the five agencies that are involved in sharing of the 5 percent of the total revenue generated from air tickets was remitted to and the distribution pattern of that total sum as well as evidence of the distribution.

Worried by the inconsistency of the NCAA delegation’s explanation on the billable and non-billable airline operations, scheduled and non-scheduled aircraft operations as well as the chartered flights, the lawmakers underscored the need for relevant data to justify their claims.

While scrutinizing the NCAA’s presentation, Hon. Faleke frowned at the discrepancy between the total of 15,518,978 domestic passengers were recorded while 3,791,985 international passengers were recorded in 2018, as well as the number of billable departed passengers.

Worried by the lackadaisical attitude of NCAA towards due diligence, Hon. Faleke said: “The next time you appear here, we will not hesitate to take action that will affect your seat.”

He alleged that officials of the regulatory agency “are hiding the money, that’s why you refused to provide the data.

“You people have always reported negative balance. I’ve done so much research on all of you. We said we are looking for N43 billion, so bring the data but you refused.

“If you’re not ready to give us the documents, we will compel you to do it. And if you refuse you will not be in that office and somebody will produce it,” he vowed.

While responding, the NCAA delegation led by Captain Ibrahim Dambazau and Abubakar Dachi as well as the Director of Operations, said the ADR 16 is the only authentic document recommended globally for documents of aircrafts.

He added that operations of operators will be assigned with code and time of schedule for the aircraft.

According to the NCAA, the private chartered aircraft do not sell tickets hence those passengers are not charged.

In the bid to track the missing fund, Hon. Faleke harped on the need for all the beneficiaries of the 5 percent including, NAMA, NCAA, NCAT, NSIB, NiMET  to give account of their stewardship.

To this end, the Committee resolved that all the stakeholders should appear on the 14th December with all the records requested for.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has commenced investigation into the circumstances surrounding United Nigeria flight NUA 0506 to Asaba and the confusion it has created in the public domain.

This is contained in a statement signed by NCAA Director – General, Capt. Musa Nuhu on Monday in Abuja.

”However, preliminary steps have been taken pending conclusions of ongoing investigation.

“The Authority wishes to reassure the traveling public that it will leave no stone unturned as it has always done in the past to ensure continued safety of the aviation industry, ” he said.

The regulatory body reassured the travelling public that it would leave no stone unturned as it had always done to ensure the aviation industry’s continued safety.