Airline Operators Seek NASS Intervention For Tax Reform Implementation

The Chairman of Air Peace, Dr. Allen Onyema, on Monday disclosed that the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) are seeking an audience with the National Assembly (NASS) to explain the many negative effects the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 will have on the aviation sector if implemented.

Speaking on behalf of the AON at an event in Abuja to celebrate Nigeria’s 100 years of participation in the aviation industry, Onyema said:

“We are going to meet members of the National Assembly very soon, together with our Minister, to discuss the issues of taxation that are supposed to come into effect on January 1, 2026, as it affects the airlines.

“If it is allowed to stand, all of us will crumble. But I know Mr. President will listen to our cries and do the needful.”

The Nigeria Tax Act was passed by both houses of the National Assembly on March 13, 2025, and signed into law on June 26, 2025, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Celebrating Nigeria’s centenary in the aviation industry, the Air Peace chairman said:

“I want you to think back to the years before now and compare what we are getting today as airlines. We are the ones who truly bear the burden as airlines. We are the ones to tell the story, whether it is good or bad—and no other person can tell it better than the airlines.

“Here, I represent not just Air Peace; I represent the entire AON as one of their leaders. And when we speak, we speak without fear. We are not afraid to criticize when necessary. We are not afraid to stand up against anything when necessary. And when it is necessary for us to applaud and commend, we do so with equal vigour.

“Today, I want to celebrate our President, and I really do not care whose ox is gored, because this President has helped the aviation industry. Our industry was almost dead. Nigerian airlines were suffering under a demonized status.

“We were all demonized as not being effective. We were all demonized as lacking capacity. We were all demonized as if nothing good could come out of us. Nobody had faith in us.

“The country was made to see us as a very hopeless sector, never minding the fact that the owners of these airlines, as private sector operators, are very selfless in what they do for the entire nation; and that these were the same people moving the country forward, strategically powering the economy and the movement of the people.

“Yet, we did not get our flowers. Now we have a change where a Minister has decided that every day of his life, he is out there trying to improve the lot of all of you here, the airlines,” he stated.

Onyema added:

“There is still more to be done, and we are very hopeful that with the kind of square peg in a square hole that we have, success is beckoning at the end. So, we thank Mr. President for giving those marching orders to his able Minister, and we thank the able Minister for seeing it as necessary to carry out the vision and aspirations of the administration that appointed him.

“This is our prayer. We ask the Honourable Minister never to relent. We ask Mr. President to always listen to our voices.”

On his part, while celebrating Nigeria at 100 years in aviation, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said:

“We thought it fit that we needed to honour all the veterans who had held this industry, who had suffered for this industry, who had worked hard to build this industry before we got here.

“I am sure you have seen all of them today—aeronautical engineers, captains, even sky caterers, those who have catered for those flying for us for many years. We honour all of them today. But we also want to apologize for those we may have omitted.

“We want to apologize; we are not perfect. There are other heroes beyond this list. We tried to manage this to 40, but at the end of the day, we still felt we needed to have 47 or so, because by the time we published the first list, we realized that so many others were also omitted.

“So, this is a general shout-out and appreciation to all those who were not mentioned. At some other time, we are going to mention them again. But this 100 years is a watershed in our journey in this country as an aviation sector.

“We want to appeal to all of you to continue to lend your voice of wisdom, your sense of judgment, your advice to all of us here. We are new. We are trying our best, the CEOs here, but this is our team. We all work as a team,” the Minister noted.

The Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Chris Najomo; the Director General of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Captain Alex Badeh; and other prominent aviation stakeholders were honoured with awards at the event.