The Federal Government has concluded plans to move the burden of the $300 landing levy by the Airline Operators of Nigeria to passengers, particularly oil companies, following robust opposition.

The government, through the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, introduced the controversial levy last year but met stiff resistance from airline operators.

Attempts to resuscitate the matter at different times have not yielded positive results.

The controversy took a new turn on Tuesday, when NAMA announced that passengers would be responsible for the landing fee.

In a statement, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of NAMA, Abdullahi Musa, noted that the collectors will henceforth strictly invoice oil companies directly while excluding helicopters operated by Airline Operators of Nigeria.

He said, “ The Federal Government has lifted the temporary suspension on enforcement granted to Messrs Naebi Dynamics Concepts Ltd, consultants for the collection of helicopter landing charges for air navigation services related to helicopter operations by oil companies in the Gulf of Guinea.”

According to the statement, “the ministerial directive on the matter obliged Messrs Naebi Dynamics Concepts Ltd to immediately resume collection of levies related to air navigation services for helicopter operations by oil companies at fields, platforms, terminals, rigs, floating production, storage and offloading, heliports, helipads and aerodromes in line with its contract.”

Musa added that the collectors would “strictly invoice oil companies directly; however, excluded helicopters operated by Airline Operators of Nigeria from the said levies by the consultant.”

It will be recalled that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had in June 2024 temporarily suspended the collection of helicopter landing levies following concerns raised by Airline Operators of Nigeria.

Responding, industry expert John Ojikutu questioned why the government should take levies from the operators when it doesn’t own any of the helipads or heliports.

He said, “Which levy and which government are shifting whatever levy to the oil companies? Is the government the owner of the helipads? If I have a helipad in my house, would the government have the right to collect a landing fee in my house other than the navigational charges on the helicopter to my house? Would the government be collecting landing fees on ships or buildings like the Shell building at Marina as it was over 30 years ago? If you don’t know what you are looking for, you can never find it.”

Efforts to get a response from oil sectors at press time were unsuccessful, as spokespersons neither picked up their calls nor responded to text messages of inquiry on the development.

Meanwhile, an impeccable source at Chevron told our correspondent that the company was preparing a response regarding the development.