The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) says outstanding debts of more than ₦34.69 billion and $49.48 million owed by aviation agencies, airlines, state governments and corporate organisations are putting pressure on its finances, as workers of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) suspended a planned nationwide protest after government intervention.
The disclosure followed an emergency meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, where aviation unions agreed to suspend the industrial action scheduled for Wednesday to allow government verify outstanding revenue claims and establish a new framework for resolving inter-agency funding disputes.
According to the Joint In-house Unions of NAMA, the agency paid about ₦400 million to NiMet between April and June 2026 despite its financial challenges, maintaining that unpaid debts owed to the agency have weakened its liquidity and affected its ability to meet statutory obligations.
The unions disclosed that, as of April 30, 2026, NAMA was owed ₦34.69 billion in domestic receivables and $49.48 million in foreign receivables.
The largest domestic debtor is the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which owes ₦23.94 billion, followed by NAPIMS (Osubi Airport) with ₦2.05 billion, Arik Air with ₦2.27 billion, Aero Contractors with ₦1.07 billion, Bauchi State Government with ₦902.87 million, Ogun State Government with ₦465.15 million, Taraba State Government (Jalingo Airport) with ₦309.35 million, Merry Aviation with ₦143.38 million, and ExxonMobil with ₦58.46 million.
The unions added that foreign operators account for more than $21.84 million of the outstanding foreign receivables, contributing to NAMA’s total foreign debt profile of $49.48 million.
They also alleged that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had not remitted NAMA’s statutory share of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) for the past four months, describing the revenue as one of the agency’s major funding sources.
According to the unions, the combination of unpaid debts and delayed statutory remittances has placed significant financial pressure on the agency responsible for air traffic management, communication, navigation, surveillance and aeronautical information services across Nigeria’s airspace.
The unions said that unless the outstanding debts are recovered and statutory revenues released, NAMA workers could be compelled to embark on an indefinite industrial action.
They urged the federal government to direct debtors to settle verified obligations, release outstanding statutory revenue due to the agency, establish a sustainable debt recovery framework and convene stakeholders to resolve the funding dispute across aviation agencies.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency Joint Action Committee (NJAC) announced the suspension of the planned nationwide protest following assurances from the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development that a process had begun to address the revenue-sharing dispute.
According to the union, the ministry agreed to develop a permanent framework for resolving accumulated revenue backlogs while introducing a monthly revenue-sharing mechanism among aviation agencies.
The Permanent Secretary of the ministry also directed NAMA to submit its statements of account to verify claims relating to remittances made to NiMet.
The union said the protest was suspended to allow the verification process to be completed and promised to brief members on the outcome at a nationwide congress.
