The Federal Government has been called upon to grant zero Customs Duty Waivers to ground handling companies in the nation’s aviation industry as it did to indigenous airlines about two years ago.
Mr. Basil Agboarumi, the Acting. Managing Director of Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), made call over the weekend while speaking at the Gateway Forum organised by the League of Airports and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
The forum was designed to provide aviation Chief Executive Officers (CEO) in the sector, a unique opportunity to brief the nation and aviation community in particular their activities; plans, challenges and prospects of their organisations and the industry at large.
Agboarumi during the question and answer segment, decried that Nigeria was a tough country to operate in and urged the government to replicate the same gesture of customs duties waivers it extended to operating airlines to ground handlers in the industry. He lamented that the recent free fall of naira to dollars and major currencies around the globe impacted negatively on the operations of ground handlers in the country, stressing that cost of ground handling equipment had more than double in the past three years.
He said: “Nigeria is a tough country to do business in and that doesn’t isolate us as a ground handling company. It takes courage to do business in this country. There are lots of things that work against the ground handling companies. For instance, the equipment that we use are heavy, bulky and cost a lot of money. To get just equipment into the country, you will require several millions of dollars.
“As you are aware, the government recently approved waivers to the operating airlines to help them sustain their operations, but the fact is that the airlines don’t exist on their own. There are some other supporters of aviation that need to be looked at like the ground handling companies because safety starts from the ground. If there is no safety on the ground, there could be a problem in the air.
“So, critically, government needs to support our operations through incentives that they approved for the airlines in the country. We need incentives for ground handling equipment. The ground handling business is an endanger species, everyone wants to collects from the ground handling company. For instance, one of the certifications we used to do with the International Safety Audit of Ground Operations (ISAGO) and not paid for, but now, we pay a lot of money to get that done.”
Agboarumi, also mentioned “price war” among ground handlers as another menace inhibiting growth of ground handling business in the country.
He added that businesses organisations all over the world are looking for common grounds to pull resources, but the reverse was the case in Nigeria as most business organisations preferred to go it alone.
He emphasised that for years despite the increase of the dollar to naira; the handling rates had remained the same while the operating airlines have increased their fares in multiple times.
In order to stop the unhealthy competition in the sector, Agboarumi called on the Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to intervene in the situation.
Med-View Airline recently sent forth Engr. Lookman Animashaun (middle), former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the airline at a brief ceremony at its corporate office in Lagos.
The Photo Caption: The Acting. Managing Director of Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, Mr. Basil Agboarumi
