The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Honourable Nnolim Nnaji has told the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) to be firm and fair in regulating the industry.
Honourable Nnaji who spoke during an oversight visit in Lagos urged the authority to ensure it carries out its over sighting of the industry with humane approach .
He was of the opinion that the use of hostlle measures may not be the best way to police the industry as experiences have shown that excessive use of force rather than persuasions and effective communications yields little or no results in most cases.
He likened such to a mathematics teacher who teaches with unfriendly gestures and end up scaring students out of the subjects and encouraging mass failures..
The chairman however urged the the Director-General of the authority, Captain Musa Nuhu to use his exposure as Nigeria’s former permanent Representative at the International Civil Aviation Organization, (ICAO) Headquarters in Montreal, Canada, to make NCAA more responsive and friendly in regulating the industry for effective results.
He assured that the committee was determined to assist the authority in any way possible to take air transport industry in Nigeria to greater heights; adding, “our desire as members of this committee is to leave aviation sector better than we met it”.
Honourable Nnaji who represents Nkanu East/West Federal Constituency of Enugu State in the House of Representative added that the committee has the backing of the House Leadership to achieve the mandate of repositioning the industry for the better.
Honourable Nnaji also assured that the current amendment Bill on civil aviation Act when concluded will strengthen the authority’s powers at regulating the industry.
Earlier in his remarks, the Director-General, Captain Nuhu informed the committee that the authority has responded to the earlier advice from the committee chairman by engaing in regular consultations with the airline operators now to iron out areas of conflicts.
He disclosed that the authority as part of the roadmap being developed for the industry intends to grow the aviation sector from the current 0.6 percent contribution to the gross domestic product, (GDP) to at least 5 percent within the next couple of years.
He added that the roadmap will be for ten to twenty years development plan for the industry
According to him, This type of behaviour can not be tolerated. It is not a must that you have to travel by air, but if you choose to, you must abide by the laid down procedures established by FAAN and NCAA in line with the NCDC guidelines . The lawmaker called on the leadership of the agencies to be firm, stressing the need for the front line staff, especially the airport security and Health officials to be firm and courageous in carrying out their duties, to ensure that every passenger no matter the status observes the protocols.