The Chief Executive Officer of West Link, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia, has lent his voice to the need to elevate the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) status to the regulator of the entire aviation industry, stating that while other agencies are service providers the NCAA is a regulator and should be given its rightful position to regulate.
Speaking on the heels of the last Saturday’s stakeholders meeting, Mshelia in a zoom meeting with the aviation press on Monday, queried the autonomy of the NCAA urging the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, to repose confidence in the NCAA and allow it oversee other agencies.
He said: “As a professional in the sector, all service providers, airlines, agencies and others, all of us are subject to NCAA regulations, which means in an ideal situation, NCAA is supposed to be the policeman of the industry. Therefore, they are the number one.
“The right thing for the minister to do is to delegate NCAA. NCAA is not a service provider and should be treated separately from the others. We keep saying NCAA is autonomous, but how autonomous is NCAA? Can it say anything and the government will follow it hook, line and sinker? No.
According to him, if the NCAA assumes the rightful position industry challenges in the area of airline operations would be a thing of the past because airlines would obey the NCAA to avoid being grounded.
“What to do is to give confidence to NCAA and give them their rightful position and allow them to function as regulator of the industry.
“Once he (the Minister) allows NCAA, every airline will operate within the rule.
“For example, the Director General of NCAA, touched on some critical areas and I am very impressed with this minister. We must give him support, but we must also tell him the right thing to do.
“As a lawyer, he has risen to the pinnacle of his profession and we respect that, but he must also respect the stakeholders in the industry too who have the knowledge of the industry,” Mshelia said.
He concurred the minister’s view that the Director General of NCAA should be made to lead the committee he sets up in the industry, “If he sets up a committee, the Director General, CA should chair that committee,” he said.
The West Link boss maintained that the NCAA would be helpful to the Minister, so he should listen to NCAA while making decisions.