In view of the different crises rocking Nigeria’s aviation sector, there is a need for some reflection and to reset the various policies guiding the running of the sector in Nigeria in other to reposition it for better results.
The Center Director at the Centre for International and Advanced Professional Studies
(CIAPS) in Lagos, Professor Anthony Kila made the call while reviewing the series of problems facing the sector which had recently led to the fall of two of the domestic airlines, Aero and Dana Air and other challenges presently causing tension in the sector.
Kila attributed the crisis and emergency rocking aviation in the country as a crisis responsible for the high cost of flights and the shutting down of airlines.
“The times we live in look very bad and is leading to serious disruptions. It is an emergency because we cannot afford to let the situation play out itself and we cannot be patient and wait for long-term solutions. We need to act swiftly and decisively to deal with this situation so that this very bad situation we have at hand does not turn into an unmanageable disaster.
Kila who also is a member of the aviation ‘think tank’ group, Aviation Round Table (ART), called for decisive actions to be taken to address the challenges which he said required a total rethink and resetting of the way “we conceive and manage our aviation manners.”
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According to him; “There is a prevailing idea in the general public and amongst too many leaders of thought, opinion moulders and indeed policy makers that aviation is a sector that services the elites or the privileged. This is, however, an anachronistic misconception that needs to be deliberately and assertively corrected. Those who know and can need to find the clarity of mind and courage of voice to explain to the rest of the society that in the times we live in and with the size and structure of Nigeria, aviation has become and will remain a basic and essential infrastructure. With such conception in mind, the role of regulators in the sector will be radically modified.”
Talking about the recent grounding and suspension of two airlines by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the expert stated: “The regulator of a basic and essential service should be and must be seen to be committed to the delivery of services not its suspension, regardless of how noble their intentions are. NCAA should be known for what it is doing to help airlines fly and we should all be educated to know that they are doing so because of the general good not as a favour to a company, private or public it does not matter. For the sake of consumers and citizens, aviation regulators should be working like a clearing house on ensuring that stranded passengers of delayed and cancelled flights can fly with the next available flights just as debit and credit card holders issued by one bank can easily withdraw money from the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of any available bank.”
Kila who described “safety” as a recurrent theme in aviation discussion, however, insisted that a closer look “will readily reveal that finance is a sine qua non element of existence and survival in the aviation sector. To make matters worse, in aviation it is not just any money, it has to be foreign currency. The government through the presiding ministry and its regulating agencies in collaboration with the ministry of finance need to champion the case of aviation to make forex available, affordable and accessible to aviation operators.
“Clearly, it is not enough to have aviation funds from government banks or aviation desks in commercial banks anymore, in line with rethinking and resting our aviation manners, it is time we think of activating an aviation bank that will raise and manage funds and offer niche financial products for the aviation industry.”
With over twenty years in the industry, I can knowledgeably confirm that luckily aviation is not a pauper’s business and finding depositors and shareholders will not be an insurmountable problem for capable promoters but political will is needed.
“In the spirit of rethinking of and resting aviation, operators need to go beyond flying or selling and distributing tickets, it is time to represent their challenges as rewarding opportunities to capable innovators, inventors and investors. Maintenance of equipment, refining of aviation fuel, training and development of human capital, deployment of distribution systems and other problems that are adversely affecting the sector can and should be thrown open to the market as opportunities for players outside the aviation sector.”