44 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 9, 2012
Aviation Uproar as Freight forwarders reject illegal demurrage charges by Nahco Stories By LAWANI MIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE
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ver 500 freight forwarders under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Custom Agents (ANCLA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) last Tuesday defiled the heavy rain as they protest the increase of clearing fee allegedly imposed on them by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company plc, Nahco at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos. The protest is coming just two weeks after the agents had down tools following the plan by the Federal Government to evacuate them from the cargo village at the airport. Speaking at the Nahco office, Vice Chairman of ANCLA, Mr. Tope Akindele said that after the two weeks that the agents went on strike over the planned evacuation by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) , the Nacho officials came up with new charges on the goods which they already have in their warehouses claiming that they should pay for both the storage of the goods as well as demurrage. He further noted that Nacho was wrong to increase fees paid on
goods. The agents were paying N8,50k per kilo on goods but this has been increased by Nacho to N41,00 per kilo on goods and no justification for the increase. Also speaking, the Chairman of NAGAFF, Mr. Segun Musa said “what we are fighting for is not for our personal interest but for the interest of the generality of Nigerians and most especially the importers.The charges imposed on us by the Nacho officials will definitely affect and cripple the economy because most of these charges will bear on the goods after clearing and get to the market while the consumer will be at the receiving end of it all.” Mr. Musa further stressed that the charges imposed by Nacho on the clearing agents was not the problem but added that they did not have anything on ground to justify the money accrue to Nacho. He however noted that the Commissioner of Police Airport Command had gone into a close door meeting with the agents to see how they would resolve the matter with the Nacho officials. According to him,”what we are asking for now is for Nahco to give us a waiver for the two weeks that we went on strike and that is all that we want Nahco to do for us so we hope that by this week everything would have been resolved amicably”
FG should force local airlines to consolidate, says Pam
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or sanity to prevail in the aviation industry, the Federal Government must be ready to force all local airlines operating in the country to consolidate into five formidable airlines that can favourably compete with other airlines in the world as well as enhance safety. President of the Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative ,NASI, Captain Dung Pam ,last week made the call following the ill-fated Dana Air plane crash that killed all 153 passengers on board at Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos. Captain Pam further stressed that for Nigerian aviation industry to be safe and buoyant, the Federal Government has a duty to regulate all the airlines economically even as they are force to merge together stressing that anyone that is not ready to merge should be left to die a natural death. He said”We need to do something to change what is happening in the aviation industry, one thing is still missing and that is accountability, so the Federal Government should compel these airlines not only to merge , but also to publish their financial account, their plans and expenditure on their website for people to see because there is no transparency in the system at the moment and that is really affecting safety. So the Federal Government should force the airlines to consolidate and give them good policies to enable them operate well because this is one of the major solutions to the numerous problems that we are facing in the aviation industry”. Asked what is the way forward for the aviation industry at the moment, Captain Pam said”The Federal Government should get the stakeholders together to form an
advisory council that is strictly made up of professionals who have enormous experience in the aviation industry to make plans and monitor it in a transparent manner as this will take us a long way if fully implemented” Captain Pam however pointed out that NCAA was also responsible for the rot in the aviation industry as the agency has relaxed in enforcing strict sanction against erring airlines which has given room for airline operators to cut corners. According to him, there is a problem with NCAA because if the agency cannot effectively monitor the airlines not only in the area of safety but particularly in the area of controlling them financially then that will impede the safety of the Nigerian flying public.
Aero commences flight operations between Uyo, Abuja
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ero Contractors, Nigeria’s leading regional airline, has announced that effective July 9, 2012, the airline will commence flight operations between Uyo and Abuja. The flight from Abuja to Uyo and Uyo to Abuja which will be operated with a Boeing 737 will depart at 12:45pm daily from either location. Captain Akin George, Aero Managing Director said “We are very excited to be launching these new routes and frequencies, which give our customers even more travel options to and from Uyo. In addition, the launch of these new routes and added frequencies further underscores the importance of our interest in the dynamic city of Uyo and our commitment to its growth.”