Expert seeks fresh policy to grow aviation

A former Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Roland Iyayi has advised government to enact policies that would support the growth of the sector, including the establishment of a strong national carrier like the liquidated NIgeria Airways.

Iyayi

 

Iyayi however bemoaned the low passenger traffic, stressing that Nigeria currently boasts 15 million travelling passengers out of a population of 170 million which accounts for only 10 per cent.
Due to cash crunch and relatively floor financial status of many Nigerians, very few people take to air travel.
The situation has made people to embrace road transportation despite the bad state of roads in the country that has claimed several lives.
The situation has made aviation to contribute a paltry 0.4 per cent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to South Africa whose aviation sector contributes more than 2 per cent to the nation’s GDP.
He made the disclosure while speaking at a conference on “90th Years of Aviation in Nigeria.” The conference was part of activities to mark the first flight in Nigeria which flew from Cairo to Kano on Nov 1, 1925.
Iyayi, who is the Managing Director, Top Brass Aviation, stated that out of the 26 airports in the country, 80.2 per cent of the total traffic passes through the Abuja, Lagos and PortHarcourt airports.
His words, “I scarcely see any major airline in the country today that will survive the next three years except that there is a major injection in capital.”
“The promoters of airlines don’t take time to study the market. So,they need to think outside the box and find new ways to make the industry to grow”, he added.
The former NAMA boss equally stated that airlines operating in the country are in a destructive competition, adding that the carriers had not been able to maximise the huge potentials of the aviation sector in generating employment and contributing to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

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Wole Shadare