The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the indigenous airlines have reached an agreement over the payment of N19 billion and $7 million debts to the former by the latter.

This is as; NCAA sought for more funds for it to effectively and efficiently train its technical personnel in order for it to regulate the industry especially the airlines.

Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General, NCAA, while speaking at its operational headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos during the oversight function of the House Committee on Aviation to agencies yesterday, said that the airlines and the agency had reached an agreement on how the debts would be paid.

Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of Aviation, had recently disclosed that the total debts of the airlines were N19 billion and $7 million.

A breakdown of the debts showed the sum of N19.37 billion and $7 million (N2.7 billion) as unremitted Ticket Sales Charge (TSC), and Cargo Sales Charge (CSC) collected on behalf of NCAA and its sister agencies.

Nuhu said that the arrangement reached with the airlines was a win-win situation for all parties, stressing that the regulatory agency didn’t expect the debtor airlines to pay back the entire debts immediately.

Nuhu, however, said that the regulator understood the difficulty brought by the COVID-19 pandemic on the entire aviation industry, but declared that the payment plan that would be instituted would be favourable to both parties.

Besides, Nuhu stated that between now and year 2024, it would be developing all its regional offices, provide adequate training and manpower to ensure that it provided its services in all nooks and crannies of the country.