Cost Of doing business rises as FAAN slams fresh charges on aviation companies.

Abiola Seun

In an aggressive revenue drive to shore up its non-aeronautical revenue and improve the financial standing, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), slammed N15,000 yearly on aviation companies operating at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos Hajj and Cargo terminal.

The new charges, according to the authority, is for the automation of the car park which stakeholders are presently expressing frustration, saying it was not good for ease of doing business.

Recall that the automation of the car park by FAAN took effect from Monday July 5, 2021 and since then, accessing Hajj camp and Cargo terminal have been a nightmare due to traffic gridlock fuelled by the latest introduction.

However, aviation companies inside the cargo terminal have faulted the new revenue drive, saying its against the ease of doing business promoted by the federal government.

The companies who argued that vehicle accessing the terminal gates pay a mandatory N500 daily thereby increasing cost of doing business said they were not well informed before the implementation of an automated car park

Speaking, Amos Akpan said with him working 313 days in a year, he will part with N500 daily to access the Cargo terminal.

According to him, registered aviation companies whose offices are in the cargo terminals are asked to pay a toll before entering the terminal to work now, stickers and official FAAN identity cards are not regarded as everyone is forced to collect the slip to gain access into the terminal.

“Something is not right with this method of revenue drive. It affects ease of business; it shows that somebody did not think through the implementation of this revenue-yielding project.

“With my office in that terminal, I’ll pay for 313 days to access my office, and I can’t even calculate the amount to cover my daily duty hours from 0800hours to 1700hours.”