Without doubt, the new aviation policy that bars private jet owners from flying friends and associates on their aircraft, while companies with private jets are permitted to carry only employees or members of the boards of directors is one more example of the odium that the Jonathan administration has brought constitutional democracy into, in Nigeria. This ill-advised policy painfully underscores the government’s lack of a coherent policy framework to address the crisis in the aviation sector. Ignoring pressing issues of airline and passenger safety is insensitive to the precarious situation; which begs the question; why private jets? Government should demonstrate a practical commitment to revamping the aviation sector and not take half-hearted measures when a more holistic approach to the problems bedeviling the sector would have made sense.
Under the new regime of the revised National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2013, which just came into effect, President Goodluck Jonathan argued through his spokesman, Reuben Abati, that the new policy would bring new and sustainable regulatory structures into the industry for security and safety of airline passengers and crew. He did not say how. The policy reads in part: “For private aircraft owned or leased by individuals, only the family members of the owner/lessee of the aircraft will be permitted on boards as passengers. For private aircraft owned or leased by companies or corporate entities, only employees and members of the boards of directors of the companies will be permitted on board as passengers.”
Passengers on board will also be subjected to an air traffic control (ATC) clearance and all operators will declare the identities of all passengers on non-revenue charter flights in the appropriate general declaration forms prior to obtaining clearance. Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah, said the new policy was necessitated by the need to respond to current challenges in the industry as the NCAP document was last reviewed 12 years ago. In line with the newly reviewed policy, she has also directed that all foreign-registered private jets will not be allowed to stay in the country beyond 15 days. Also, foreign-registered jets on special mission would be allowed to stay for only 60 days, following special approval from the office of the minister.
When the government decided to read the riot act to private jet owners, it only sought to resuscitate and exercise powers granted it under section 769 (1) of the 2006 Civil Aviation Act. The legality of the action is therefore not in question. Rather, it is the utility and the manner in which it has been conceived coming as it were, in the wake of the controversy and public outrage following the grounding of the plane of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, widely perceived as a political witch-hunt.
All laws, to an extent may have to limit individual rights and preferences and even economic rights and freedoms. In this circumstance, the test such laws must pass is that they confer benefits, which considerably outweigh their limiting or rights violating characteristics. The new policy on private jets almost completely fails this test, especially in its complete blindness to the changes in societal circumstances. Apart from the infringement on human rights, which the 1999 constitution guarantees, the policy shows scornful disdain for genuine aspirations to legitimate work or leisure perks. The policy also overlooks the need to reward and salute the success of legitimate enterprise by Nigerian private jet owners like Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Global Fleets Chairman, Jimoh Ibrahim, Globacom Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mike Adenuga and Chief Harry Akande.
Besides the impracticality of implementation, the cost to personal freedom and choice clearly outweighs any benefits the new policy may indeed possess. For example, what does “family member” mean and when do you make the distinction between a “family member” and a “friend”? And who makes that determination? But the confusion does not end there. The policy is even more reprehensible because the benefits it will deliver to the aviation sector are far from certain. The Aviation Minister has not offered facts and figures on how these new policies will improve, for example, airline and passenger safety. The public is thus not in a position to judge what the policy may deliver vis-a-vis other measures to keep “flying coffins” off Nigerian airspace.
It is public knowledge that most of the planes operating in Nigeria are over 25 years old and should not even be in the air. Nigerians would no doubt be happier to hear from the Aviation Minister what she is doing to hold airline operators accountable and making sure they respect laws regulating the sector. It takes very little knowledge of how Nigeria works to know that the new policy will open avenues for rent-seeking and will be riddled with corruption and graft.
The preponderance of private jets is nothing more than a manifestation of the endemic ostentation in Nigeria. At virtually every airstrip and airport tarmac today, there are private aircraft of every hue sitting in the sun and hangers, parked largely as an advertisement of the preferred travelling habits of Nigeria’s elite. It is estimated that private aircraft have grown exponentially from about 20 in 2000 to over 150 today. This is most scandalous at a time the national economy is comatose. Indeed, the influx of private jets is particularly appalling as they are used to satisfy the private taste of the owners for comfort and luxury. Ownership of these jets are ascribed to politicians, companies, clergymen, businessmen and a number of state governments, including Rivers State, Lagos State, Taraba State and Akwa Ibom State. Many of these, though owned, leased or operated by Nigerians, are tactically registered in other jurisdictions ostensibly to hide the identity of the ultimate beneficiaries. Statistics indicate over 70 % of private jets in the country carry foreign registration.
It is equally interesting that in this ridiculous, ego chasing “my jet-is-bigger-than-yours” frenzy; President Jonathan leads the way, followed by sitting governors who even go off to flying schools at the taxpayers’ expense! The penchant of the Nigerian elite for the luxury of private jets may rightly be said to be pioneered by the presidential fleet of nine aircraft, which is costing the nation huge maintenance bills. What is also not in dispute is the cavalier deployment of these jets to domestic, conjugal and frivolous uses with the First Lady using the presidential jet to attend private functions. The Nigerian Presidential fleet, as constituted today, is an invitation to the licentiousness of the country’s political leadership to continue their perfidious lifestyle that constitutes an affront to Nigerians.
This situation ought to challenge the competence of the Aviation Minister and other regulatory agencies in the country. To ensure that only authorized business entities or persons operate private aircraft in Nigeria, it is vital to ascertain what data on the ownership or usage of these aircraft are shared between the aviation parastatals in charge of licensing, parking fees, etc. and the database of the states and Federal Inland Revenue Services, the State Security Service, and the Corporate Affairs Commission.
In the circumstances, Nigerians should be alarmed at the high level of corruption surrounding the matter of private aircraft. This cankerworm, shoved in the face of citizens by physical sight of these aircrafts, is reprehensible. For a country deficit in many indices of human development and national growth, the unbridled crave for private aircraft, when many Nigerians are jobless and struggling to eke out a paltry living, is highly intolerable. Widening the country’s tax and revenue base should be the minimum reaction of the government to the festering misapplication of public resources, instead of ridiculous policies that show the seeming inability of the government to regulate the sector and save Nigerians from callous airline operators.
