By Shola Adekola, Lagos and Gbola Subair, Abuja Tribune.com.ng
JUDGES of the Federal High Court across the country have been urged to wade into the many legal challenges confronting the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to ensure that it sustains safety in the industry.
Making this call at a two-day aviation law seminar for judges of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday, the Director-General of the NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren, lamented that the volume of litigation involving the NCAA was growing at an alarming rate.
According to Dr Demu-ren, NCAA was not an aircraft operator or an airline, neither was it an airport operator or an air traffic service provider, adding that it should not be held liable for acts arising from the provision of services by aircraft operators and other aviation allied services providers.
“As such, a situation where NCAA is held liable for acts arising from the provision of services at the airports by aircraft operators and air traffic services and other aviation allied services providers is highly detrimental to safety of air transportation, as it amounts to a major drain of limited resources which otherwise could be applied to safety critical issues,” he said.
He lamented that without adequate funds, NCAA would no longer be in a position to ensure the safe operation of aircraft operating in the airspace and subsequent inability to carry out daily surveillance and safety inspection of flights and the flight crew, including the monitoring of airport security.
The NCAA boss called on the courts to resolve matters that affected NCAA and other aviation parastatal agencies without necessarily resorting to garnishee orders, which had devastating effect on the operations and safety of the industry.
Speaking earlier, the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, had said the seminar was apt, adding that the High Court had constituted a committee to review aviation laws and civil aviation laws.
Meanwhile, THE Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the Federal Government is owing N80 billion litigation debt, out of which only N12 billion captured in the 2012 budget will be paid.
The minister said the Federal Government would, henceforth, hands off payment of litigation debt, insisting that all ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) would be responsible for the payment of judgment debts hanging on their necks.
The minister, who said this at the presentation of the 2012 budget to the public in Abuja, on Monday, condemned the proliferation of litigation debts which, to her, was alarming.
“As we speak, we have over N80 billion of judgment debt, it cannot be mounting and mounting, this is alarming. We have to make it clear that we don’t have to be paying such debt. We don’t understand this proliferation. After the N12 billion, we are not going to pay anything; all sectors would have to pay for their judgements,” she said.
On the issue of security, she said the government had a three-prong approach, which included securit, political and all inclusiveness.
She said the government was also targeting the Boko Haram affected states for public works, where unemployed youths could be gainfully employed.
Okonjo-Iweala also said the growth collectible revenue estimated in 2012 budget was N9.692 trillion.
The minister, who gave the figure at the 2012 budget presentation organised by the Budget Office of the Federation, said the figure was based on 2.48 million barrels oil production per day.
She said the total expenditure approved in the 2012 budget comprised of the regular budgetary appropriation of N4.69 trillion, adding that an appropriation of N180 billion was made for the implementation of programmes and projects under the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment programme (SURE).
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