The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) chapter of the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE) has formally distanced itself from its national leadership over a proposed review of the 5% Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) and Cargo Sales Charge sharing formula.
The rift comes amid a legislative push in the National Assembly to revise the statutory distribution, which currently allocates 56% to the NCAA and 22% to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), with the remainder split between NIMET, NCAT, and NSIB, by trimming the NCAA’s share to boost NAMA’s funding.
In a communiqué signed by Chapter Chairman Agunloye Fredrick on Thursday, the NCAA chapter revealed it was neither consulted nor represented prior to recent media comments by NAAE’s national president opposing the current framework.
“While we acknowledge the right of every professional body to advocate for the welfare and operational sustainability of its members and institutions, we wish to state clearly that the position presented in the publication does not represent the views of the NCAA Chapter of NAAE,” the communiqué stated.
“We therefore dissociate ourselves from the publication and respectfully state that it should not be interpreted as the collective position of all NAAE members across the aviation industry.”
While highlighting the structural setup of the sector, the engineers noted that unlike operational agencies, the NCAA relies heavily on its TSC share to execute core regulatory functions, including airline certification, inspector training, consumer protection, and meeting international commitments to bodies like ICAO and AFCAC.
The chapter cautioned that reallocating these funds could severely cripple safety oversight, leading to delayed approvals, reduced inspection frequency, and diminished compliance with ICAO safety standards, ultimately damaging Nigeria’s global aviation reputation.
“A strong regulator remains the foundation of every safe aviation system,” the statement stressed. “Weakening the regulator through reduced funding ultimately weakens the entire aviation industry.”
While acknowledging NAMA’s significant financial needs for managing air traffic and navigation infrastructure, the chapter maintained that enhancing one agency must not come at the detriment of the sector’s primary safety watchdog. It urged stakeholders and NAAE leadership to abandon inter-agency rivalry and pursue broad-based, evidence-driven dialogue to secure sustainable funding for all institutions.