Chinet conference to focus on viability of cargo airports, agro-exports

The future of cargo airports and their viability will be the focus at the coming 2022 Chinet Aviacargo conference in Lagos.

The two-day conference slated for between September 7 and 8, 2022,  is expected to have in attendance captains of industries in aviation, logistics, exports, transport and government agencies in export related fields.

Thirteen federal airports have been designated as cargo airports and five have recently been listed for concessioning while about 10 state-owned cargo airports are also coming on stream.

How Nigeria will harmonise and utilise these assets to grow agro-exports will be the topic of discussion by a high quality panel assembled by the organisers at the second edition of Chinet aviation and cargo conference.

An export guru and the driver of many agro-export projects in Nigeria, Captain John Okakpu, will head the discussions on the viability of these airports and their utilisation for agro-exports.

Equally, Chinet 22 will discuss the ‘Role of Cargo Airports, Insurance and Finance in the Development of a National Aviacargo Export Master Plan for Nigeria.’

Among the regulators and operators of the aviacargo ecosystem in Nigeria participating at the conference includes the National Agency for Food and Drug Control (NAFDAC), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

While the first day of the event will dwell on financing of aviation and cargo in Nigeria with insurance being a key issue for discussion, the financing session involving airlines and banks will be moderated by an airline operator and a financial advisor, Dr Alex Nwuba.

Leading the pack in the insurance sector is the newly elected President of the African Insurance Brokers Association (AIBA) and Chairman, Boff & Co. Insurance Brokers Ltd, Chief Babajide Olatunde-Agbeja, with the executives of leading insurance companies and top insurance brokers expected to join the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to discuss the roles of the different components of insurance in the development of aviation in Nigeria.

The presence of the insurance experts may douse the earlier tension among the Nigerian airlines who hitherto had alleged that the law preventing them from using foreign insurers is punitive and has now become a weapon of intimidation by Nigerian insurers who lack adequate capacity to insure a brand new aircraft but still charge high premium. It is alleged that Nigerian airlines pay the highest premiums in Africa.