Why House of Reps wants to probe foreign airlines

The House of Representatives is set to audit foreign airlines to ascertain the number of Nigerians they employ as their cabin staff and technical crew.

This was disclosed by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Honourable Nnolim Nnaji, via a statement issued in Abuja.

According to him, the audit would be done through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA).

He said, “If it is discovered that Nigeria is being shortchanged in any way, we will not allow it. The committee chairman also tasked foreign airlines to employ Nigerians as cabin crew members.

“The parliament would also be interested in finding out the percentage of their tickets that are sold by local travel agents and at what commission.

“The country had been over-generous to the airlines with unrestricted access to the Nigeria travel market, an act which they must reciprocate by engaging indigenous pilots, engineers and licensed cabin crew into their technical staff.

“Most of the foreign airlines are granted multiple entry points into the country. so as representatives of the people we will be interested in knowing how such gestures reflect on our economy and labour force

“It is equally important that we know the percentage of their tickets that are sold by our local agents so that we ensure that what obtains in other climes are same here.”