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Aviation under Buhari mixed

The state of Nigerian aviation under President Muhammadu Buhari in the past one year could best be described mixed, writes WOLE SHADARE
The aviation industry, in the past one year under the administration of President Buhari, started slowly. Expectations were high, going by the fact that the new administrators were expected to give the sector a positive direction, compared to what happened previously.

The appointment of Rotimi Amaechi and Hadi Sirika as minister of transportation and minister of state for aviation respectively and their first visit on inspection of facilities at the Lagos airport gave an insight of what would be required to reposition a decaying sector.
Aviation master plan
The Nigerian government said it was in the process of developing a national transportation master plan that would help in diversifying the nation’s economy. Amaechi stated that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is in the process of developing a national transportation master plan that will be implemented as a fulfilment of one of his campaign promises to diversify the nation’s economy while improving nonoil sector revenues.
“While reducing dependence on oil revenues, it will also develop the rural economy, reduce unemployment and urban drift,” Amaechi had said.
Not a few believed that there is no master plan now, but a roadmap. A master plan entails the study of the traffic projection by airport, zoning of the airport, future growth of the airport, the economic drive that would make the airport grow and the likes. For example, at the Heathrow Airport, the United Kingdom is currently building the fourth runway at the cost of £21billion.
So, in Nigeria, what we have done in our airport is that we have different buildings here and there, they are building a new terminal, bringing down a building, but the future site of terminals were already in the master plan and each airport has its own master plan, but they need to be updated and brought to the current realities.
A master plan involves all stakeholders, operators, the airline and every other person. They all come together to produce a document that serves the industry. A master plan would have avoided all the mistakes of today.
Dwindling fortunes of airlines
Nigeria’s aviation industry is not only small but also fragmented. It is so tiny compared to its population said to be over 160 million. In some climes, aviation is money spinning, contributing significantly to their nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
It is, however, a different situation in Nigeria where the sector contributes less than one per cent to the country’s GDP. It is appalling and very dismal to a country with the largest economy in Africa.
With the near death of the carriers, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) keeps issuing Air Operators Certificate (AOC) to intending airlines. No sooner than they begin operations, than the reality begins to dawn on them that the sector is highly capital intensive, requiring deep pocket to sustain their operations for years.
Most of the airlines’ airplanes only get fuelled after passengers have paid for tickets and part of the money used to pay oil marketers who have resorted to a cash and carry arrangement in order to avoid growing airlines’ debt.
Airport privatisation
In a bid to guarantee efficiency and good management in view of dwindling resources from the government for infrastructural development in the aviation industry, the government in December 2015 unfolded plans to privatise four major airports.
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; the Port Harcourt International Airport; and the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, are the aerodromes slated for concession. Addressing aviation industry players in Abuja, the Minister of State for Aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika, disclosed that private sector operators would manage the airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. The minister reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to fasttrack the development of the sector through public private partnership. Airports have evolved mainly as government-run enterprises.
Many airports seek privatisation in part to improve their abilities to compete in the new global economy. The manner of ownership covers a wide spectrum: governmentowned and controlled airports, government-owned corporations, independent airport authorities, public-private partnerships with government majority ownership or with private majority ownership.
Reasons to privatise an airport include an improved ability for an airport to diversify its operations to enhance profitability, to fund expansion, and to improve competitiveness.
The arguments for privatisation include the falling availability of public funds, and a need to change to the marketoriented outlook that private businesses develop. Objections to airport privatisation are related to the apprehension that a private operator will take advantage of the monopoly that airports represent in air travel.
Privatisation enables a long-term focus to meet the demands of international competition, to maintain a customer- focused plan and to free the government from providing subsidies to an unprofitable enterprise.
Airports terminal completion
The airport remodelling project by former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, lacked a clear cut direction. Considered a laudable project at inception, the delay in completing the terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt and Kano three years behind planned completion date, had elicited questions and smacks of unseriousness.
However, government gave December 2016 as the deadline for the completion of the four major international airport terminals under construction.
Amaechi disclosed that after completion, the Lagos airport would handle 15 million passengers annually, while the others would handle additional 15 million to bring the total traffic to 30 million passengers annually.
“As a result of limited resources for capital project development, the government is exploring the possibility of private sector participation towards the realisation of the industries’ potential.”
Amaechi stated that there was an urgent need to continue to improve on infrastructure, noting that out of the four conveyor belts in the Lagos airport, two had broken down.
He said it was the determination of the President Buhari administration to improve critical infrastructure that would help to reflate the economy, stressing that the transport sector held the key to the economy and formed the basis of all socioeconomic interactions.
Debt recovery
In the aviation industry, one recurring issue that has pit the airlines against the various aviation agencies is the controversy trailing debts owed aviation agencies. Domestic airlines’ debts to FAAN, NAMA and NCAA are staggering.
Just recently, FAAN, through the various aviation unions, picketed Arik Arik over allegation that the airline owes it N11.5 billion, an allegation the airline swiftly denied.
The Federal Government stated that there would be no sacred cows in the recovery of debts owed the various agencies. Collectively, Nigerian carriers are said to owe NAMA, NCAA, NCAT and NIMET over N7 billion in Passenger Service Charge and Ticket Sales Charge, prompting NCAA to give them a two-week ultimatum to pay up or be grounded.
Sleaze in NAMA
One issue that took the sector by storm was the arrest of top NAMA chiefs by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged sleaze.
These arrests were made to explain how the Managing Director of NAMA, Ibrahim Abdulsalam and his predecessor signed off payments of over N3 billion on ‘questionable contracts’ between 2013 and 2015.
Documents obtained showed that the bulk of these payments were for clearing of containers and Customs duties, which amounted to N2,101,689, 304.14 within the period under review. Most of these clearing/Customs duties payment were said to be nontransparent, as the agency had never really undertaken any “major importation that warrants payments in tens of millions of naira at different times as claimed by the management.”
The trail of approvals and payments, according to sources, revealed a lack of due process and transparency in approving the sums involved, which, in most cases, were said to be above the approval limits of the Managing Director of NAMA and should have either been referred to the board or the Minister of Aviation. The officials are currently facing trial over theft.
Nigerian carriers scramble for IOSA
Consequently, many Nigerian airlines have joined the league of airlines that are IOTA certified. The successful airlines are Arik, Aero Contractors and FirstNation Airways. Those on the verge of attaining IOSA certification include Medview, Allied Air Cargo Services, Overland Airways and Dana Air.
Air Peace has done its last workshop, but is about to be audited. The IOSA Safety Audit, the instrument for measuring safety among airlines of the world, is not criteria to end safety related issues or prevent air accidents all over the world, but is an audit that helps airlines appreciate the importance of airlines operational safety procedures and following said safety procedures to run an efficient airline.
Flight delay/cancellations
Many travellers are now frustrated over incessant delay/ cancellation of flights, a situation that has taken joy out of air travel. Air travel on its own is a hectic experience, even when everything goes according to plan.
So, when there is the added challenge of unexpected delays or cancellations, it starts to feel more like ‘living through hell’.
In Nigeria, airlines are quick to cancel domestic flights on the grounds of factors such as extreme weather, mechanical malfunctions and workers strike actions and this continually throws the plans of thousands of travellers into disarray.
Incessant flight cancellation remains a challenge for airlines and demands for compensations by flyers seldom pitch distraught passengers against erring airlines.
Albeit the Nigeria regulatory authority, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) made efforts to ameliorate and mediate in issues as they arise, passengers said there is more ground to cover by those involved.
Flight cancellations, especially one too many, be it mechanical or otherwise, rude flight attendants, poor in-flight services, delays and leaving passengers in the dark without information as well numerous other bad deals is a pointer that the airlines may well be on their way to extinction or kiss the canvass if passengers’ complaints are ignored.
Conclusion
Just like many other sectors, the aviation industry is facing many problems and challenges. The challenges in the industry are affecting the smooth operation and management of the industry.
The challenges range from the skyrocketing of aviation fuel experienced by airlines, lack of economic regulation of the airlines and dwindling fortunes of domestic airlines.