HALF YEAR REPORT

• For aviation,it’s slow motion

Nigeria’s aviation showed so much promise in the last six months, but was a little bit slow in reaching the promised land. WOLE SHADARE writes

Mixed feelings

Airport users and air travellers are sharply divided over the performance of aviation industry. The last six months has witnessed both highs and lows but the general consensus is that the sector is more stable than it has ever experienced.

The sector has not reached its desired height because the rot of the past years cannot be corrected overnight as the industry was left bleeding and raped by past administrations.

The industry is underdeveloped, considering the country’s enormous potential and endless opportunities at her behest.

Industry observers aver that Nigeria as the most populous country in Africa, has the largest population of indigenous travellers in the continent and what is peculiar about Nigerians is that they like to travel. So the country is a huge market in the region, but over the years it has failed to grab the opportunities available due to what many in the sector referred to as bad and conflicting policies, lack of political will and self-serving interests of those who have held critical and senior positions in the sector.

Infrastructure

There is considerable improvement in infrastructure at the airport. They may however, not be adequate. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has given the Abuja airport a major face-lift in what could rival some aerodromes at some beautiful airports in Africa. Nigeria has over 25 airports spread across the nation. The country also has about 30 airstrips, which means that there are highly development air transport network. The challenge however, is that there is no consistent policy on airport development and maintenance. Some of the airports lack modern landing aids. The good news is that the Federal Government has concluded plans to acquire state-of-the-art landing aid valued at $33 million to enhance efficient flight operations.

Some of the aerodromes lack airfield lighting, perimeter fencing, adequate fire cover, screening machines, CCTV and even passenger facilitation equipment such as flight information display system and seats for departing passengers.

Also, in a bid to to reduce dependence on electricity from the national grid to sustain its very expensive navigational grid, NAMA began deploring solar panel and batteries to boost its equipment.

The equipment, which is valued at several millions of naira, were deployed to eight locations in Lagos, Calabar, Enugu, Sokoto and four others.

Very instructive was the completion of the Abuja airport runway in six weeks. This runway was constructed 30 years ago and had been in poor service condition for more than 20 years. Convinced that the runway needed upgrade and modernisation, the Federal Government gave the order that it be done no matter the cost, put at N5.8 billion.

Manpower

Aviation manpower development in Nigeria ended with the demise of Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL), which was liquidated in 2003. Since its demise, airlines still operating in the country relied heavily on the Nigeria Airways workforce. But many of them had become old and professionally obsolete. So, Nigerian airlines currently depend on expatriates for most of their pilots and engineers. They pay highly for this because the remunerations of these expatriates are more than double what they pay their Nigerian counterparts and they only get half of the service Nigerians offer to these airlines.

The collapse of the carrier has led to over 500 young pilots and engineers roaming the streets while many others are into menial jobs.

Accident reports

One noticeable area of commendation is the release of over five accident reports by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB). Renowned aviation consultant and former Director of Flight Operations for defunct Nigeria Airways, Capt. Dele Ore, said this had never happened in the history of aviation.

His words: “I think I want to score them very highly. There has not been too much interference in safety and security. The agencies are allowed to do their jobs. There have not been too many sacks. Those that were asked to go had skeletons in their cupboard, which is very different from the past where people are brought to man sensitive positions without experience.

“You can’t talk of success in aviation without giving credit to people at the top. We pray for the President to get well.

Ore said in the past, accident reports are allowed to gather dust on the shelf without allowing the public to have an idea of what led to the accident in order to prevent re-occurrence.

Concession

As a way to overcome the myriads of problems in the aviation industry, the federal government recently concluded plans to concession some of the airports. Government explained that concession was arrived at because of its lean resources, which cannot be expended on airport development. it is encouraging to allow the private sector to invest in the industry. But the government is yet to give details about the concession programme.

Conclusion

Aviation in Nigeria may not totally have reached the Promised Land but there is considerable improvement in terms of infrastructure upgrade and far better approach to stabilising a sector that is safety dependent.

Wole Shadare