Nigeria Aviation Minister & current issues (threads merged)
 

Here is a quote from todays guardian newspaper:
'A row over domestic route violation by Lufthansa, the German airline, has pitted Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, against that country’s ambassador, Joachim Christoph Schmillen.
The hiccup is over the airline’s Abuja-Port Harcourt; Port Harcourt-Lagos and Abuja-Lagos routes.
Fani-Kayode is insisting that it is illegal for Lufthansa to fly them as it has no licence to operate on domestic routes.'
Can anyone shed some light on this controversy? How is it possible that a foreign airline would run flight operations within a country without approval?

Cabotage.
 

9th Freedom of the Air.

I'm very surprised Lufthansa would do that without prior approval, but yet again, they might be trying to play smart. Definitely illegal

There wouldn't be a problem if LH was flying without selling domestic sectors.

The a/c can route FRA-ABV-LOS-ABV-LOS without problems, but if they are selling domestic sectors then they would be overstepping their approval

Strange, because the airport in Port Harcourt has been shut down now for more than 3 month. When Lufthansa flew to Port Harcourt, they went direct to Frankfurt as far as I know.

Fani Kayode up to his usual
 

I see that Femi Fani Kaoyode is up to his usual tricks, with lots of threats and bluster, but no factual evidence to back up his claims:

Seems like a lot of profit from just one route. Accxording to their onlne timetables they have one flight a day to/from Lagos and just 2 a week from Abuja.

He then goes on to say that 'only God' saved the Bellview flight allegedly carrying explosives recently:

A Minister of Aviation who thinks a passenger jet can hover..... my, my :}
He's obviously going to be as much use as his predecessor. Will the Nigerian government never learn? :ugh:

You can't expect to have a vibrant aviation sector with this kind of leadership. Unfortunately, it shows we have not learnt our lessons yet.

Bombs, Bellview and an Aviation Minister
 

My fellow Aviators and industry professionals, when will the government realize that we need professionals at the helm of affairs? The fact that one is made a minister does not automatically mean he/she is now an aviation expert, hence now understands the industry within a month or so. What am I ranting about? Read the article below and you just might feel me.

V1_RHOT8.

PS: Why is Bellview and the Minister adamant about this bomb theory? They should be careful what the think/wish for o!

How another Bellview plane escaped explosion narrowly —Aviation Minister

By Luka Binniyat
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
ABUJA—AVIATION Minister, Chief Gani Fani-Kayode alleged, yesterday, that a week before explosives meant to be loaded into an Abuja bound Bellview airlines flight were intercepted, security officials had discovered similar explosives that had been loaded into another flight 45 minutes before it was meant to explode.
The Minister also accused foreign Airlines operating in Nigeria of never paying Nigeria government any tax, saying that their total tax evasion was N65 billion ($500 million).
On the explosives on the Bellview flight, the Minister who still insists that the Dickson intercepted cargo, were a potent danger that could have blown up the plane, said, “A week before we intercepted these combustible, dangerous an illegal material, there was another incident whereby illegal, combustible material in the same way, were placed in a plane by a courier company in Abuja. The courier company people who were supposed to have checked the cargoes-maybe they checked and didn’t care, because their relatives were not on the plane - placed these materials on the plane (Bellview) here in Abuja.
''The MD (Managing Director) of Belleview is here to confirm. Nobody knew what was in it. Because once a courier company says it is all clear, then you don’t open it. That was the practice before now. That had been the practice! You just assume he was telling you the truth. They put these materials on the plane. And they got to Lagos.
''When they got to Lagos, it became clear to the Bellview people that there was something wrong - because the boxes had started expanding. So they opened them. In the cause of that, they found, illegal combustible materials. It is illegal in the sense that they were not supposed to be on that flight. Because the pressure mechanism has triggered off the mechanism within these material. And they were expanding. Give that flight another 45 minutes in the air. Or if that flight had been delayed or has been hovering over Lagos, that plane would have exploded. That plane would have come down.
“You don’t have to have a high density bomb in the plane to make it dangerous,” he said.
He did not however, name the courier company, and the brain(s) behind the explosive.
On whether the cargo intercepted from Dickson were bombs or mere crackers, he fumed and asserted that they were dangerous materials that could have brought the plane down, and challenged those who said they were mere crackers to prove it otherwise.
“On the nature of these combustibles”, he said, “you don’t need a bomb to bring down an aircraft. These are combustible materials, which under Aviation laws are not allowed to be placed on planes. These are even increasingly worse when the person that was placing the materials on the plane refuse to get in the place, but paid somebody N2000 to dump these things and leave.
“It makes it increasingly suspicious when the person that that owns that material, dropped then at the airport; asked somebody to put them on the plane, and decided to go by road to Abuja to receive them. These are very suspicious circumstances”, he said.
Chief Fani-Kayode said that the person arrested must face prosecution.
He said that law enforcement agencies are working on the issues.
It could be recalled that on the 20th November, 2006 a man who later gave his name as Micheal Dickson attempted to smuggled cargoes of items into a Bellview flight from Lagos to Abuja, confirmed to be explosives, was arrested and is still being held for investigation.
On the sharp practices by foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, the Minister accused them of refusing to get registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and such, evading the payment of company taxes that amounts to N62 billion ($500 million) ever since they stated flying in and out of the country.
“Let me use these opportunity to raise the issues of tax by foreign operators”, he said, “we discovered that quite a number of them have not even registered with the CAC in order to avoid having to pay tax,”, he said, “they are making so much money. They should pay us some tax.”, he went on, “if our planes fly into their countries without paying tax, they will simply hold the plane”, he said.
He said that the Federal government has written them to register and to pay their taxes.
“And if they refuse”, he said, “we will sanction them”.
“There is a backlog of $500million in form of taxes owed by these foreign airline operators”, he said
According to him Lufthansa makes 60% of its international profit from Nigerian route, and said it was only fair if the pay their due to the Nigerian People.
He then used the forum to congratulate Bellview airline, for the BASA, saying it was no small victory for the Nigerian Aviation sector.
Speaking earlier, the MD of Bellview airline, Mr. Kayode Odokoya told the Minister that it the successful signing of the agreement was largely attributed to the professional contribution of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry in the course of the meeting they had with the UK team.

Our New Minister
 

When they got to Lagos, it became clear to the Bellview people that there was something wrong - because the boxes had started expanding. So they opened them. In the cause of that, they found illegal combustible materials. It is illegal in the sense that they were not supposed to be on that flight. Because the pressure mechanism has triggered off the mechanism within these material. And they were expanding.
“Give that flight another 45 minutes in the air. Or if that flight had been delayed or has been hovering over Lagos, that plane would have exploded.


Wow, I never knew Bellview's baggage handlers doubled as trained professional explosives/bomb disposal guys that are brave enough to open expanding boxes. I mean these are the same guys that forced open that bag that contained fire crackers....ooops, I meant to say "DYNAMITE."
Meanwhile, you've got to love a mechanism that triggers another mechanism.

This guy is the same as his predecessor, just bears a different name. What a joke I tell ya.

By the way, what's the deal between Fani-Kayode and Odukoya?

V1_RHOT8

Who let the dogs out?
 

How much more of an embarassement must we take to get these half wits outta the picture?:ugh:
I am totally shut by the words of the so called minister!
What will it take guys? I think it's about enough, can't someone just say something? Can't anyone summon enough courage to tell these guys they talk outta their as*es?
Well, i guess we must cope with what we have, a politicized aviation industry, where any plunkker can open his/her gub wide and spit trash!:mad:
Nothing more to say guys, im ticked off!

Borishade II
 

Some more desperate media PR courtesy Femi Kayode (Borishade the 2nd).
I think this guy wasc definitely embarassed by his hasty remarks about a "bomb" on the Bellview flight...Otherwise he wouldn't attempt ANOTHER media chest-beating exercise. I mean come on, half a billion dollars in unpaid airline taxes? That's almost unbelievable!


---------------------------------------------------------------
FG Accuses Foreign Airlines of $500m Tax Evasion
This Day (Lagos)
NEWS
December 5, 2006
Posted to the web December 5, 2006
By Andy Ekugo
Abuja
The Federal Government yesterday accused foreign airline operators of defrauding the country to the tune of $500 million through tax evasion.
Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode disclosed in Abuja that this was done through non-registration of the companies at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
According to him, "we discovered that quite a number of them have not even registered with the CAC in order to avoid having to pay tax. They are making so much money. They should pay us some tax. If our planes fly into their countries without paying tax, they will simply hold the plane".
He, however, stated also that the Federal government has written them to register and to pay their taxes adding "and if they refuse, we will sanction them".
The minister added that, "There is a backlog of $500 million in form of taxes owed by these foreign airline operators".
He stated that Lufthansa makes 60 per cent of its international profit from the Nigerian route, and that it was only fair if the company pays what is due the Nigerian people.
He also said there is no iota of truth in rumours that the explosive billed for the Bellview flight were fire crackers, challenging anybody who claims that to prove it.
Stating that only God averted what would have happened that day on the flight, he explained that "A week before we intercepted these combustible, dangerous and illegal material, there was another incident whereby illegal, combustible material in the same way, were placed in a plane by a courier company in Abuja.
"The courier company's staff who were supposed to have checked the cargoes - maybe they checked and didn't care, because their relatives were not on the plane - placed these materials on the plane here in Abuja.
"The Managing Director of Belleview is here to confirm it. Nobody knew what was in it. Because once a courier company says it is all clear, then you don't open it. That was the practice before now. That had been the practice.
"You just assume he was telling you the truth. They put these materials on the plane. And they got to Lagos. When they got to Lagos, it became clear to the Bellview people that there was something wrong - because the boxes had started expanding. So they opened them. In the cause of that, they found illegal combustible materials. It is illegal in the sense that they were not supposed to be on that flight. Because the pressure mechanism has triggered off the mechanism within these material. And they were expanding.
"Give that flight another 45 minutes in the air. Or if that flight had been delayed or has been hovering over Lagos, that plane would have exploded. That plane would have come down. You don't have to have a high density bomb in the plane to make it dangerous", he said.
On whether the cargo intercepted from Dickson were bombs or mere crackers, he fumed and asserted that they were dangerous materials that could have brought the plane down, and challenged those who said they were mere crackers to prove it otherwise.
"On the nature of these combustibles, you don't need a bomb to bring down an aircraft. These are combustible materials, which under Aviation laws are not allowed to be placed on planes. These are even increasingly worse when the person that was placing the materials on the plane refused to get in the plane, but paid somebody N2000 to dump these things and leave.

Until the President himself is replaced. With a bit of hope and luck, the incoming government will finally appoint a professional.

Fed Government of Nigeria biz jet
 

Second visit in two weeks parked at Hanger 125 in Ltn ( couple of panels still in etch primer) today. Any ideas why ?

guys,if you are a Nigerian, you should know better.why the cries?fani kayode was sent to the aviation ministry for a purpose or he is what you can call SPV in business parlance.spv stands for special purpose vehicle :suspect: curiously,19billion naira was immediately released to him as soon as he resumed.Nothing has since been heard of the money except the fire cracker story which i can tell you is another attempt to distract us from the 19billion naira released to him.the question now is,what is being done with the 19billion released?i am sure the bulk of the money will be spent in procuring bomb/metal detectors:confused: :sad: .

bellview is the latest aviation ministry bride:cool:

by the way, how far with arik, they seem to have gone quiet?

ARIK, FEMI-KAYODE et al
 

The EFCC (Economic Fraud and Crimes Commission) paid a visit to the offices of ARIK Air in Lagos on Tuesday, saying that they were investigating the ownership structure and sources of finance for the new airline, Chairman Sir J I Arumemi-Johnson.

They also raided the offices of the Rivers State Government, Governor Dr, Sir Peter Odili in Port Harcourt investigating the N2 billion (US$15.5 million) paid to Rockson Engineering 6 months after it was inaugurated, and on May 16 2000 it floated an airline. The Chairman of Rockson Engineering is Sir J I Arumemi-Johnson.

The newly commissioned N50 billion Omoku gas turbine project in Rivers State has come under the searchlight of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which has invited some officials of the state government and Rockson Engineering, the firm that constructed the project, for questioning. The project was commissioned only on Tuesday by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

At the Port Harcourt NAF Base, the NAF have said that they will not allow aircraft as large as Boeing 737 to land (despite the runway being long enough for them to operate from). Strangely, the State Governor operates his Embraer jet and Dash 8 from there and Arik Air are building a passenger from which they plan to start operating Canadair CRJ 900s this month.

So, can anyone see any kind of a link between the above news items? :} But it's okay, I'm sure it's all also well under the control of the Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani Kayode. Wonder what he's going to say now that the SSS have revealed that the 'explosives' found on the Bellview flight were just fireworks, despite his recent statement .

There are even rumours that Nigeria passed its recent ICAO safety audit - I guess we're all in safe hands then in a country with no corruption, a totally professional Minister of Aviation (okay, admittedly, the Ministers of Aviation in most countries are just government-appointed plonkers), and with a sound aviation sector whose accounting policies are totally transparent.


A top presidency source who pleaded anonymity, told Nigerian newspaper, Saturday Tribune that since Nigerian officials have not been enjoying diplomatic immunity in specific countries across Europe, none of those countries will now enjoy the privilege in Nigeria. Against this background, the Federal Government has also withdrawn the privilege of multiple destinations for foreign airlines, an indication that none of them will be allowed to ply any routes apart from the one officially approved for them. In view of this development, the Federal Government has ordered the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to immediately initiate moves aimed at recovering a total sum of $500 million allegedly owed Nigeria by foreign airlines. Apparently only Virgin Atlantic and Air India have registered to operate here. The aviation minister last Friday, walked out on the German Ambassador on account of what he described as the envoy’s rudeness in his approach to him during their meeting in Abuja. Looks as if he's making a whole set of new friends to go with his new job then! :E

Sosoliso Airlines is saying that many of the victims of the DC9 crash in Port Harcourt are not being paid because JAT, the owners of the aircraft are refuse to pay their share of the monies:

I belief that Virgin Nigeria and ACN also lease aircrafts from JAL and have pilots from them. Does this mean that passengers flying in these aircrafts must also fear that their families will not be properly compensated if they have crash?

JAT have B737-300 aircraft with both ACN and Bellview. Virgin Nigeria does not lease any aircraft from JAT. Virgin Nigeria did lease Airbus A320 aircraft from BH Air of Bulgaria which have since been returned.

It is truly a sad state of affairs!

It kind of reminds you of a certain ex-governor who when asked about mineral resources found in his state, responded by saying they had plenty of Fanta and Pepsi!

One would think that concerning the aviation sector, which has so much to do with the safety of lives, it would be different. Unfortunately it is not so.

Until the dear fatherland can come to a point where such sensitive appointments, and indeed all appointments, are made on merit rather than on a political whim, I dare say the future is not very bright.

or treetop:}

the ex gov is late matey:sad:

Oh..... I'm sorry to hear that.

May his soul rest in peace.

As far as i know,Lufthansa do not sell domestic tkts.
They pick up frankfurt bound pax from PHC and ABV on a business class style flight,and I know they have an Accra LOS frankfurt flight that only picks frankfurt bound pax.
AON has been pushing this for years,because they claim the picking up from multiple points and dropping off abroad eats into their business.
Pax have access to direct travel,but the airlines as far as I know do not transport pax within Nigeria from one domestic sector,to another.

Lets see how it goes then.

AVSEC,

Have you been away for a while? Port Harcourt International has been closed for several months now.

A huge equipment
 

I recall the former minister promising that he would buy " a huge equipment" which would stop aeroplanes from crashing.

Maybe, with 19billion naira in his pocket, the new minister will make good that promise.

And think what he will have to spend when he has collected the tax on 60% of Lufthansa's international profits.

Then he can celebrate with a (confiscated) firework display.

It's 30 years since I first set foot on Nigerian soil.

Plus ca change...........

Actually from what I am told by people who have been in Nigeria during the last 30 years, quite a lot has changed. Granted Politicians promising a lot and delivering little are still around, but then that is also the case in the UK so why pick on Nigeria?

Corruption in Nigeria is being tackled by the EFCC with varying degrees of success, but I think I read in the papers that the UK have suddenly dropped an enquiry into some BAe slush fund at what happens to be a very opportune time to keep an export order for Typhoons alive. Several UK politicians have been found to have fingers in murky waters in the last 30 years as well, so we are not that different. A chap called Mates springs to mind as an alleged brown envelope beneficiary.

One thing I cannot see being resolved in the near future is the chronic power supply. I am sure NEPA must be funded by the generator manufacturers :)

Let us also reflect that not a lot has changed despite the large numbers of expats in Nigeria over the last 30 years. I guess they have just worked within the system instead of working to change it, a form of job protection. If the system was fixed the ex pats would have to go home.

The efforts of the last couple of years in the aviation sector have been quite bold, and with a modicum of success in raising issues that need to be attended to. Now the challenge is to get the politicians to stump up the monies.

Surely not

Please read my post again and those preceding it.

I said "30 years since I first set foot....." Not " last set foot ....."
During the last 30 years I have lived and worked for several years in Nigeria, visited regularly and still have at least monthly contact. I think I may claim sufficient first hand knowledge to make an observation.

And I certainly did not mention corruption ! The 19bn is the amount reportedly released by the government to the minister !
I will happily debate corruption with you, but this is not the place.

To insinuate that expats are in some way to blame for the chaos only underlines your lack of insight. They are there because their employers, both foreign and domestic cannot find suitably qualified,competent and experienced locals. No employer is going to incur the cost of an expat if a local can do the job. And to labour your point, any expat who tries to tell the government how to change things is promptly branded as having a " colonial mentality" and swiftly escorted to the airport.

NEPA is probably the longest running sore in the history of the country - and the greatest obstacle to future development. Until such time as NEPA is placed in the hands of professionals, and allocated a proper share of the oil wealth, the lights will continue to die.

yup that's a valid call for lack of attention to detail Mostly :O :O I had indeed misread the first stepping part of your post.

Now it is my turn to claim a miscontrue of my post. I have re-read it a couple of times and I do not see where I said that the expats are/were to blame for the chaos. I believe that I suggested that considering their numbers, and the influential positions many have held, that the lack of progress in resolving much of the chaos suggests more of a compliance with the status quo than finding ways of encouraging reform.

Yes the Govt are indeed a little sensitive to open critisicm from ex pats, and the effectiveness of the muzzling is proved by the difficulty in getting reforms of business practice through.

I think it is more correct to say that there are a limited number of Nigerians living in Nigeria who have the world wide experience required to take over many of the ex pat positions. There are quite a few who are doing a very good job, but unfortunately many others have chosen to take their skills abroad, so the situation arises where the experienced Nigerians are working abroad leaving a gap in Nigeria which is filled by experienced ex-pats :ugh:

I guess the tone of my response to you was a tad testy for which I apologise.

Ajouan,those were the operational flights executed by Lufthansa??????:bored:
A statement,as a preamble to the main stuffing of a comment,if you get my drift.Do you?????:}