Nigeria, where government toys with its aviation sector

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3 years ago

To say Nigeria’s aviation sector is gradually collapsing like a pack of poorly arranged cards is not an understatement owing to the series of events that have unfolded and are still unfolding in recent times.

The unpalatable events, as they pop up on a daily basis, point to the obvious fact that the federal government has lost its grip of what to do with this sensitive sector which has proven to be a real money-spinner for the country given the revenue it generates even in foreign currencies.

Rather than handle these crises with the utmost responsibility, the government and the political class are only shifting energy to the 2023 elections forgetting that only God knows who will see the determining year.

Again, the government must have failed to realize the fact that by the time the so called elections come and go, that there may be no more aviation sector because of the ongoing nonchalant attitude of the government in the face of the myriad of challenges confronting the sector.

Such problems include the expensive price of aviation fuel, unavailability of forex which is the bedrock of aviation business transactions, poor government policies, to the controversial failure of the government to release the whopping sum of $450 million belonging to the foreign airlines operating into Nigeria.

It is no longer news that the economic hardships which had forced both the domestic and foreign carriers to hike fares as a way of remaining in business have made air travel unaffordable to many Nigerians.

On the local routes, a one-hour flight which used to sell for between N25,000 and N50,000 in the economy class has risen to between N100,000 and N190,000 while the same duration on business class now attracts between N230,000 and N300,000 or even more.

It is the same storyline with the foreign flights where an economy class ticket on Lagos/London route, for example, is oscillating between N1.2 million and N2 million while a business class ticket skyrockets to almost N5 million.

Presently, the Nigerian travelling public is groaning as the majority could hardly afford to travel by air as things continue to fall apart and the government is showing less concern.

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While it has become very clear that the domestic airlines are on the last lap of their survival owing to the lack of goodwill from the government, it may not be easy for the government to enjoy the same laxity with the foreign carriers.

Prior to now, international investors like the Group Chairman of Virgin Atlantic, Sir Richard Branson had written off Nigeria as a country worthy of transacting business in view of its penchant attitude towards adhering to agreements.

This negative impression as embarrassing as it may be is almost becoming synonymous with the government of Nigeria as witnessed in its ongoing failure to remit the accrued $450 million funds generated by the foreign carriers through the air transport services offered between Nigeria and the home countries.

Holding on to these foreign funds is not only criminal and totally unacceptable, but capable of further driving the few foreign investors that still show a little bit of trust in Nigeria despite the obvious wind of confusion blowing everywhere as a result of bad governance.

The state of hopelessness rubs off on both the local and foreign flight activities in the country, political activities continue to enjoy absolute concentrations from the government with huge funds that could have been used to service these crises going into cheap political gains.

The already bad situation was again worsened when the minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, the person in the eye of the storm, publicly declared that there were no immediate solutions to the lingering crises.

This statement coming from the number one citizen in the country’s aviation sector has only gone to show that the government has totally lost grip of issues rocking the sector and therefore, leaving the different stakeholders, particularly the airlines, to their own fate.

This lackadaisical attitude, if allowed to continue, may only result in the total collapse of the sector with the subsequent extinction of air travel and the sudden disconnect of Nigeria from other parts of the world through the absence of air transport as the foreign carriers may be forced to withdraw their services from Nigeria.

Should the bad situation be allowed to continue a little longer, the present government will be remembered for denying the generations of Nigerians yet unborn of this critical mode of transport at a time other modes of transport like road and rail are death traps in view of high insecurity permeating the length and breadth of the country.