Ojikutu picks holes in $8bn aviation contribution to GDP

An aviation expert, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, said going by the figure of $8 billion declared by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as the contribution of aviation to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), there are fears the government is being shortchanged.

IATA had said over the weekend that air transport in Nigeria supported 650,800 jobs including tourism-related employment, while contributing US$8.2bn to the GDP.

Reacting to the figure, Ojikutu noted that the declared airlines’ earnings from tickets and cargo sales for 2015 and 2016 were N385bn and N330bn respectively as against $8bn or N2.1tr declared now to them by IATA.

He said, “I am wondering if the government is not being seriously shortchanged by the airlines or/and government/IATA agents that are helping to collect TSC (ticket sale charge) and CSC (cargo sale charge) from the airlines.