New tax regime will crumble aviation sector-ANAP
BY CHUKWUEMEKE IWELUNMO
The Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) says the new tax regime scheduled to take effect in the country next year will crumble the entire country’s aviation sector.
Speaking with aviation journalists in his national secretariat at the airport, the Secretary General of ANAP, Comrade AbdulRasaq Saidu, said that when the tax is implemented, it will take aviation back to the days of calamity in the sector.
According to Comrade Saidu, the tax regime, when introduced, will rubbish all the good things achieved in the past years, stressing that a situation where revenues are collected on behalf of agencies and give them peanuts for maintenance of facilities does not augur well.
He stated that aviation agencies are presently finding it difficult to maintain their facilities, pay salaries and meet claims when they are generating their revenue, adding that it will be suicidal when the government decides to allocate revenue to them.
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According to him, with the new tax system, agencies will not have direct access to the revenue generated, as it will be remitted to the government directly, without enough money to maintain facilities
He noted that aviation cannot be toyed with as it is fund fund-consuming sector, especially in the maintenance of facilities, provision of safety and security at the airport, saying that the new tax system will never work in the industry.
“If the government insist, God forbid that they will not witness aircraft falling from the sky like in 2005 and 2006. I hope the President and Commander-in-Chief were badly advised on the issue”.
Comrade Saidu noted that the aviation sector ought to have been exempted from the new reform tax system. Aviation deals with the lives of humans. So, whatever they are bringing in aviation must be in line with ICAO and IATA best practices”.
