At 63, Nigeria’s aviation still lagging behind

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On October 1, Nigeria, the most populous back country in the world, celebrated its 63 years of gaining independence from its colonial master, Britain.

As expected, the present government like the previous ones, rolled out the drums to celebrate the day with President Bola Tinubu addressing Nigerians in a broadcast, making promises while life remains unbearable for majority of Nigerians in the face of dire economic hardships.

Joining in the celebrations was the country’s aviation sector like other sectors of the economy where the different interest groups in their reactions expressed misgivings on how far the sector had gone in the last 63 years.

Many have argued that the sector has recorded some significant gains in the area of deregulation, with the number of airlines the country has produced, including those that are no longer in existence.

Up to the late 1970s, the country could only boast of the now defunct Nigeria Airways, slugging it out with mega carriers like the British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and Ethiopian Airlines until the sector was deregulated. This gave birth to the likes of Okada and Kano. Since then, the sector has continued to witness the coming of many domestic airlines.

The birth of many domestic airlines, even while their counterparts in other parts of the globe were folding up, have given air travellers the opportunity to have choices and enjoy different experiences.

No doubt, the sector has equally enjoyed stability in the area of separation of functions among aviation agencies unlike in the past when they were all lumped together under the then Nigerian Airports Authority (NAA) and the Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA) until the creation of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and former Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) now turned Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB).

The gains in the separation of functions have not only put an end to overlapping of functions, but created opportunity for accountability and coordination amongst the agencies for seamless air transport.

The separation of functions among the different agencies is responsible for the nearly zero accident air transport in the last one decade which is a far departure from the previous years when Nigeria’s aviation sector was tagged as unsafe and labelled as where airlines fly coffins.

The recapitalisation of domestic airlines has also given more confidence to domestic operations as the policy contributed to strengthening the capital power and capacity of local airlines. These are some of the improvements the sector has recorded over the years.

As good as these feats would have been worth celebrating, the positive records are, however, infinitesimal when compared to the abysmal performance by the different governments the country has produced after independence.

Like many sectors, Nigeria’s aviation sector is still crawling and for a 63-year-old adult to still be crawling is an indication that all is not well with his body and brain and, therefore, deserves attention.

From all indication, the present condition of the aviation sector appears to be worse than it was some years ago. In other words, rather than progress, the sector is retrogressing, owing to self-inflicted damages it continues to suffer in the hands of successive governments.

It is sad that 63 years after the country gained independence, its major airports, particularly the Murtala Muhammed International Airport is still carrying its almost five decades old structure even when other smaller countries have speedily moved ahead.

For a 63-year-old country, the MMIA is still witnessing power outage, roof leakages during rainfalls, archaic baggage carousels, cumbersome passengers profiling, among others due to many years of neglect.

The major problem that has remained the Achilles heel of the sector for these years has been the lack of vision by many of the ministers who, rather than formulate and implement policies that should have transformed the sector, often diverted attention to secondary things at the expense of the sector.

It is this lack of vision that is responsible for the near total collapse of infrastructure at airports especially at the Lagos airport, which is the goose that lays the golden eggs for other airports.

Ministers appointed to head the sector didn’t help matters. In the history of the country, none, if not all the ministers that had served the sector had focused attention on maintenance as many of them foisted policies that ended up dragging it backwards despite the array of capable professionals available in the country.

With all these experiences, the sector is still far from its Eldorado and therefore, the time to celebrate is not now. The consolation is that all hope is not lost but until a minister that is capable of focusing attention on infrastructure and other critical safety areas devoid of unnecessary politicisation comes, the sector, like the country itself, may still be far from standing on its feet.

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