The Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has disclosed that the Federal Government would continue to make ceaseless efforts towards transforming the entire face of the aviation sector through increased trade and foreign direct investment (FDI).
He stated this during the Fourth Aviation Stakeholders’ Forum, on Thursday, in Abuja.
He said that increased trade and FDI would help to maximise the contribution of the sector to the socio-economic development of the Nigerian economy.
Sirika said that the government remained committed to making air transportation the preferred and safest means of transportation, creating a self-sustaining business model to drive
socio-economic growth in Nigeria.
The minister said the vision of the government for the industry was to develop a hub to take full advantage of Nigeria’s potentials in aviation.
He added that government was also committed to provide the requisite capacity and manpower, especially aviation business managers and scientists to engage in research and development.
Parts of government’s vision, according to him, were establishing a business model that would make the industry self-sustaining through public private partnership (PPP).
“We want to develop an industry that provides all the maintenance needs in the country thereby reducing capital flight.
“We are also determined to ensure optimum utilisation of Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) and Multilateral Air Service Agreement (MASA) to the advantage of indigenous airlines.
“Government is committed to developing an industry with improved infrastructure and quality service delivery,’’ he said.
Sirika said that, in spite of the progress made, the industry was still faced with some challenges such as high cost of Jet A1 (aviation fuel) and budgetary constraints and slow pace of infrastructural development.
He said that the government had taken measures to address the high rate of equipment /instrument obsolescence and degradation, as well as inadequate technical and aging workforce.
The minister said non-optimisation of Bilateral/Multilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA/MASA) was another major challenge confronting the industry.
He highlighted the progress made so far in the implementation of the sector roadmap to include improvement in aviation safety and security.
In his words, “We achieved the certification of Lagos and Abuja airports by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in line with the guidelines and procedures stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
“The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) got World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Certification for conforming to the requirements of (ISO 9001 2015).
“This is for the provision of meteorological services to the aviation industry and other stakeholders and Nigeria is the only country to achieve (ISO 2009 2015) in Africa,’’ he said.
Sirika said transaction advisers had been working on developing the business case in line with Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) regulation for concession of four international airports and establishment of national carrier.
He assured that the process would be transparent, adding that all stakeholders would be carried along.
