Ground handling companies in the country have penned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would ensure that the proposed new ground handling rates in the aviation sector mirrors the present economic realities among others.
The document indicates that the firms are poised to guard against any form of internal economic sabotage amongst its ranks.
The communiqué was signed by the Ag. CEO, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc, Olumuyiwa Olumekun; CEO of Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc, Mr. Basil Agboarumi, Director Aviation Handling Service (AHS), Mr. Samuel Oluwole,
CEO, Butake Resources Ltd (BRL), Alhaji Bello Salihu; and the CEO, Swissport Nigeria, Mr. John Adebanjo addressed to domestic and foreign airlines.
The signatories affirmed that the new development would enable a sustainable and profitable ground handling rates as well also help maintain the highest standards of safety operations in the sector in Nigeria.
Chairman of Precision Handling Company, Mr. Samuel Oluwole, added that the handling companies have to hold themselves accountable because the current misnomer affects them all”.
Oluwole said ”We are going to have a technical committee in place that will be like an inspectorate that will be able to monitor the handling companies in the country and severe fines will be meted out by the disciplinary committee on the resolution and any infringement. This will be done after due notification to the NCAA. This will be in place in the interest of everybody.
“The fact is that the system we have set up is in the interest of all to survive. The undercutting of over 30 years is not leading us anywhere.”
Also speaking, CEO, Butake Handling Company, Alhaji Bello Salihu, commended the moves by AGHAN for the current price regime to be an equally tinkering way to ensure compliance for all and sundry.
Salihu said the safety threshold was not just about the handling companies, but also about the safety and security of the country stressing that with appropriate charges, safety and security will better be enhanced.
He said: “With this, Nigeria will not continue to lose revenues and the sub-sector will be able to contribute to the growth of the industry. “We are very grateful to the government who understands our position. By raising the handling charges, you are not doing the handling companies any favour, rather, you are asking them to operate efficiently and effectively in accordance with the standard operating procedure that is published by both ICAO and IATA.
“We are a category one country in terms of safety and security. If handling companies are not operating to the standards, do you think we can retain the Category One status? We cannot.
Chairman, AGHAN, Mr. Olaniyi Adigun, who described the journey as tough, said the first attempt at correcting the price anomaly was abortive because of the resistance of the strong and formidable airlines.
He said: “This (resistance) took us to the National Assembly where all was addressed. A one-way ticket to Abuja now is about N80,000, while we were handling them for between N10,000 and N20,000. Who does that? We needed to increase based on the economic realities on the ground.
“The association is coming out with a watertight commitment that will stipulate the penalties to any of our members that violate the agreement. And like I said, it will be termed as economic
sabotage and the chairmen of these companies are the ones signing this communiqué, which will convey the commitment.”
Vice President, AGHAN, Ahmed Bashir, who spoke on the effective implementation of new charges, said apart from signing the agreement, chairmen of the handling companies will also have to sign the third document that will specify sanctions and legal departments are already working on it to fine-tune the document.
