House Aviation Committee Xrays Foreign Airlines On Local Content In Recruitment, Tickets Volume

The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation says it plans to examine the foreign airlines that are operating into the Nigeria to ascertain the number of Nigerians they employed as part of their cabin staff and technical crew (pilots and engineers).
Chairman of the Committee, Honourable Nnolim Nnaji who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja said, ” the parliament would also be interested in finding out the percentage of their tickets that are sold by local travel agents and at what commission “.
Honourable Nnaji stated that an audit would be done through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) adding that, “if it is discovered that Nigeria is being shortchanged in any way, we will not allow it”.
He noted that the country had been over generous to the airlines with unrestricted access to the Nigeria travel market which they must reciprocate by engaging indigenous pilots, engineers and licensed cabin crew into their technical staff.
“Most of the foreign airlines are granted multiple entries points into the country. So, as Representatives of the people, we will be interested in knowing how such gestures reflect in our economy and labour force.
“It is equally important that we know the percentage of their tickets that are sold by our local agents so that we ensure that what obtains in other climes are same here”. Honourable Nnaji further stressed.
The House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Aviation emphatically stated that if it was discovered that the foreign airlines were not engaging Nigerians as part of their technical and cabin crew, the committee would seek to correct it so that young Nigerian professionals could be employed.