AVIATION FUNDING ROW ESCALATES OVER TSC REVIEW AS NCAA ENGINEERS PUSH BACK
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By:Tajudeen Aminat
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) chapter of the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE) has rejected the association’s national leadership’s position on the proposed review of the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) sharing formula, saying it was neither consulted nor represented in the statement.
In a communiqué issued on Thursday and signed by its Chairman, Agunloye Fredrick, the chapter said the comments credited to the NAAE National President did not reflect the views of its members and should not be regarded as the collective position of engineers within the NCAA.
The chapter criticised the process leading to the public statement, insisting that members across aviation agencies should have been consulted before a position was adopted on an issue of national importance. It stressed that the NCAA chapter was excluded from the discussions and formally dissociated itself from the publication.
According to the communiqué, the Ticket Sales Charge is a statutory levy shared among aviation agencies to support their respective mandates. The chapter noted that the NCAA depends heavily on its share of the revenue to fund safety oversight, certification, licensing, economic regulation, consumer protection, compliance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards, inspector training and other critical regulatory functions.
The engineers warned that reducing the NCAA’s allocation could weaken aviation safety oversight, delay certification and licensing processes, limit inspections, reduce regulatory capacity and undermine Nigeria’s compliance with international aviation safety standards.
While acknowledging the funding needs of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the chapter argued that strengthening one agency should not come at the expense of another. It called for broader stakeholder consultations and sustainable funding solutions that would adequately support all aviation agencies without compromising their statutory responsibilities.
The statement comes amid ongoing debate over a bill before the National Assembly seeking to amend the sharing formula for the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge and Cargo Sales Charge by reducing the NCAA’s allocation and increasing NAMA’s share.
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