...Says At No Time Did Capt. Nuhu Make Such Allegation

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has refuted categorically allegation credited to the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu, that  airlines under the auspices of the body  defrauded  government aviation agencies such as  Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) of over N19 billion while converting same to ‘personal use’”.

AON refuted the allegation in a statement signed by AON Vice President, Barr. Allen Onyema and made available to Aviation Journalists in Lagos.

”Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) wishes to state its very strong reservations for such accusations and we deny very strongly that our members are defrauding or defrauded government agencies of the said amount or any amount for that matter. Airline Operations, worldwide, is not a cash and carry business. Every airline in the world owes debts which are settled as their operations go on. Nigeria is not an exception.

” It is true that some of our members have very bad debts but not all our members owe such debts. The owing of debts in itself does not amount to fraud. We frown very strongly at the criminalization of all Nigerian airlines as a result of the said debts,” he said.

All the parties,he said were present at a stakeholders’ meeting and that the DG of NCAA did not at any time use such words to describe Nigerian airlines.

The meeting  to the best of his knowledge ended on an amicable note with everyone agreeing to work together to address the debts.

He, however pointed out that some of these debts are owed by some airlines that are no longer in existence.

Onyema advised members with such bad debts to engage the agencies and put forward repayment plans.

The AON Vice President advocate for support for the domestic airlines in Nigeria as they are operating under very harsh environment.