AFCAC and the need to address African leaders individualistic tendencies

RECENTLY, the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), a specialized organ of the African Union (AU) in the field of Civil Aviation on the continent announced the appointment of the Nigerian-born Adefunke Adeyemi as its Secretary General.

Adeyemi who prior to her appointment was the Regional Director, Advocacy and Strategic Relations in Africa for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), advocating for the overall sustainability and growth of the aviation industry in the region also conceptualized and was responsible for the campaign to promote Africa’s socio-economic prospects through seamless air connectivity across Africa is no doubt fit for the job. With all these attributes, hope is very high that Adeyemi will use her wealth of experience

to reposition AFCAC for the overall benefits of Africa, Prior to now, AFCAC as strong as it is meant to be, has not really been able to exact itself in Nigeria for example despite the number of airlines that abound in the country with the huge volume of air transport traffic available there.

Looking at the continent from a broader perspective, the presence of AFCAC has not been able to sway the various African governments to embrace the different policies that would have further integrated the continent in the area of seamless air links. Such good but ineffective policies include the popular Yamoussoukro Declaration aimed at uniting African skies which were kick-started in 1988, reformed into the Yamoussoukro Decision in 1999 with the signature of 44 African countries and finally adopted by most members of the African Union (AU) that was purposely established as a framework for the liberalisation of air transport services between African countries, as well as fair competition between airlines.

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Twenty-two years after its adoption, the Yamoussoukro decision which became binding in 2002 has up till now not been fully implemented owing to many factors ranging from the power of supremacy amongst the African leaders to unnecessary suspicion and over-protectionism amongst other numerous factors.

Obviously, the failure to allow the full implementation of these critical agreements is mostly responsible for the dominance of foreign carriers on the continent and the subsequent impoverishment of the continent in view of the huge capital flights going out of the continent and the subsequent limitations on the development of the continent. The African state leaders had also agreed on many occasions to pretentiously support other policies like the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) among others that will discourage hindrances that may hamper airlines from Africa from operating into each other’s country, which they end up working against the underground.

From all indications, all these agreements have just remained mere pronouncements that lack sincerity of purpose as many of the African leaders have continued to frustrate the efforts that would have further opened up the continent to the benefit of fellow Africans. Sadly, these same African leaders are quick to accuse foreign carriers of taking over African aviation when in actual terms, their uncooperative and individualistic tendencies are responsible for the obvious.

Without a doubt, Africa, with all its potential coupled with the opportunities that abound therein for the promotion of business and air travels have remained below the expected ladder with less than 1% of the global air service market.

It is on record that many African countries are the top enemies of fellow Africans as witnessed in the annoying manner they sabotage airlines from sister African countries from operating int