Nigeria’s full ratification of the Cape Town Convention last year will help it achieve its goal of becoming “Africa’s aviation hub,” according to Nigeria’s aviation minister.
Festus Keyamo said at the Airline Economics Growth Frontier conference in Dublin on January 13 that the conference's legal safeguards will reduce risk for lessors leasing aircraft to local airlines. said.
“We are compliant with the Cape Town Convention, so anyone bringing equipment into Nigeria is safe,” said Keyamo, who is also head of aerospace development. “I can personally vouch for that. We're here to let the world know we're open for business.”
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and Africa's fourth largest economy with a rapidly expanding middle class, has long been in an attempt to establish an international flag carrier and even a strong domestic aviation sector. I've been struggling. Many lenders have been discouraged from financing aircraft due to concerns that Nigeria's legal system is not robust enough to recover assets.
However, Keyamo said Nigeria has 23 private airlines, some of which could become national carriers in the future. “Our role is to help these local carriers grow,” he says. “We have a free market economy that allows all private operators to come in. There's no reason right now why some of these local operators can't grow.”
Nigeria's location on the map, equidistant from the north, south and east of Africa, and the fact that Lagos-London is one of the busiest routes in Africa, makes it a crossroads for air travel within the continent. He says that means it is well-positioned to become And like Lagos, Keyamo is keen to encourage the development of other airports. “We intend to invite the world's biggest companies to manage the airport, with the aim of turning the airport into a transportation hub,” he says.
As part of efforts to further establish Nigeria on the international map, the government will host a three-day industry conference called the Nigeria International Air Show in December at an airport hotel in Lagos.
“The aviation sector is an important contributor to (Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's) ambition to create a $1 trillion economy,” Keyamo said. “The transition to a middle class is underway and the aviation industry must be ready for it. Nigeria is on a transformation journey.”
In August last year, the government and Boeing announced an agreement aimed at making it easier for the country's airlines to acquire new generation aircraft from manufacturers and their network of lenders and financiers, as well as providing easier access to training and maintenance services. signed a memorandum of understanding.
