UYO – Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria, ICEN, has predicted that the efforts by Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to collect $235 million from British Airways, BA, over alleged abuse of dominant positions may not yield fruitful results as the country had no Antitrust Law.
Chief Coordinator of ICEN in the South-South region, Mr. Friday Udoh, made this known in a statement Tuesday.
Crimes, fines, compensation
NCAA indicted BA and Virgin Atlantic Airline, VAA, after the conclusion of its six months findings over alleged abuse of dominant position through price fixing and unfair fare regime, saying that they were guilty of “fixing prices, abusing fuel surcharges and taking undue advantage of passengers.”
The authority fined them about $235 million with BA responsible for 57.45% while the balance would be offset by VAA.
However, the two airlines denied any wrongdoing in the matter.
Aside from the fine, NCAA also ordered them to reimburse and compen-sate Nigerian passengers who purchased tickets and travelled on both airlines within the period in a manner that is not only commensurate to what they had agreed on or was paid in the U.K and U.S.
BA, VAA respond
However, VAA, through its country representative, Chief John Adebanjo, has absolved itself of any wrongdoing, saying: “I do not think we have violated Nigerian law in any way. We hold the Director-General of NCAA and the agency in high esteem.
“We respect the laws of the land. A full response will be coming from our office later.”
BA, on its part, said: “We reject the allegations made by NCAA and we are vigorously defending our position.
“We remain committed to Nigeria and have been flying there for more than 75 years. We pride our-selves on offering compe-titive fares, a choice of products and connections to our Nigerian customers.”
‘Mssing’ law
However, reacting to the incident, Mr. Udoh said that the effort by “NCAA may yield little or no result, considering the absence of Antitrust Law in the country.”
He commended the efforts of Dr. Harold Demuren as well as the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, for having the interests of the country at heart.
But he said neither VAA, nor any other individual, was far away from the truth, adding that the slow pace or the near abandonment of the Antitrust Bill, which passage into law had been delayed since September 2002 was inimical to the growth of aviation industry in the country.
Udoh said: “For our policy makers to continue to ignore the National Antitrust Commission Bill, with this type of scenario, is a dangerous invitation to a perpetual state of economic doldrums,” and proposed laws like the Federal Competition Commission, FCC, Bill, sponsored by the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, along with the , the leadership will need to remember that this law
”Surely the country is in a state of toxification, non-recovery and losses from the money unjustly charged Nigerians by the foreign airlines. This is prevalent in virtually every facet of business dealings in Nigeria.”
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