N33.5m Fine: FirstNation denies NCAA allegations, says fine in bad faith

First Nation Airways has expressed displeasure over the N33.5 million fine meted to the airline, saying the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) statement that was released on Sunday announcing the sanction was done in bad faith.

It said the statement was silent on the fact that the carrier had immediately filed an appeal against the sanctions in accordance with the requirements of Nig. CARs 1.10.

The carrier, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Rasheed Yusuf, said the fact that NCAA elected to go public on a Sunday, without any need to rush to media and by deliberately withholding the fact that “we have appealed the sanctions in accordance with the relevant regulation is in bad faith and showed the Authority’s tendency of regulation by media in a very sensitive industry”.

His words: “It is our position that on the on the day that the said flight was ramp inspected, the captain had a valid medical license. We have also drawn NCAA’s attention to the need to address the bureaucracy associated with the general license and medical renewals process with the Authority.”

The apex regulatory body of air travel business in Nigeria, in a letter, ordered the airline to pay N32 million, while one of its pilots is to pay N1.5 million for flying a FirstNation commercial aircraft with expired and invalid medical certificate, a violation of the Nigerian Civil Aviation regulations.

General Manager, Public Relations of the NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, said the airline contravened the regulations by allowing a flight crew member to operate 16 scheduled flights on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th November, 2016.

Adurogboye noted that these operations were carried out while the medical certificate had expired since on November 1, 2016, thereby rendering his Pilot License subsequently invalid from that date.

He added: “In light of these, the Airline is hereby sanctioned in accordance with IS 1.3.3 (14) while the pilot suffered similar fate in line with IS 1.3.3(11) (15) (e), in lieu of suspension under IS 1.3.3(11)(15)(a) of the Nig. CARs 2015.

FirstNation has, however, denied allegation of its pilot failing to renewed medical certificate or carrying an invalid one. Chief Operating Officer of the airlines, Capt. Chimara Imediegwu, said the medical certificate in question was actually withheld by the NCAA while alleging that the same had expired.

Imediegwu said the medical certificate renewal ideally takes 24 hours, but in this case, was delayed by NCAA for about six days.He said it was wrong of the authority to delay the certificate, create a false impression about safety rules violation and release the certificate two hours after.

The director said so far as the airline was concerned, the onus is upon NCAA to see the matter through and correct the impression they had created about the airline.