NIGERIA’S aviation sector, particularly the minister appointed to supervise the formulation and management of the government’s aviation policies in Nigeria, has been in the news in the recent weeks.
It’s no longer news that the minister of aviation and aerospace development, Mr Festus Keyamo, in his genuine efforts to transform the sector and make the environment more conducive to domestic airline business in particular, decided to take the bull by the horn by taking the crusade beyond the shores of Nigeria.
His resilience and determination took him to aircraft manufacturers and leasing companies around the world, visiting, touring and persuading them on how to do seamless business with the domestic airlines majority of which have been caught up in the unfriendly business environment owing to many years of failure by the subsequent government’s to support them.
Keyamo, who categorised his agenda for the sector under the five roadmap mantra in line with the President Bola Tinubu’s transformation agenda, has always declared his intention to use opportunities in the sector to attract foreign investments.
Obviously, this must have been responsible for his ongoing crisscrossing of some foreign countries in search of the relevant international organisations that he will partner to make his dream achievable.
Therefore, it was not a surprise that Keyamo led a Nigerian delegation on a four day visit to France for Nigeria-France Bilateral Business Forum to bolster cooperation and attract French private sector investment that will help improve Nigeria’s aviation infrastructure.
While in France, the minister and his team visited Toulouse where the head office of the aircraft manufacturing company, Airbus is located for the obvious reason of familiarising with the management of the company for the purpose of exploring the possibility of establishing a symbiotic relationship that will engender the ease of aircraft acquisition and leasing for the domestic airlines.
Up to that point, all the efforts of the minister to achieve this major goal was in order and this was acknowledged by many Nigerians. The minister therefore deserves commendation for taking the bold step.
However, since no one is perfect and since no one is an island, in the course of taking some steps there is always the possibility of making some genuine errors and this was what transpired in a 1:59seconds video where Keyamo, out of excitement, spoke glowingly about Airbus.
The minister, who got impressed with the facilities and the aircraft at the hangar facilities of the Airbus and could not hide his impression and admiration for what he saw, eulogised the Airbus team.
The less than two minutes genuine eulogy of the minister, which has since sparked controversy both within and out of the sector with many knocking the minister for turning himself to the sales representative of Airbus showed the minister declaring
This is the factory of the aircraft manufacturing giant – Airbus in Toulouse, France. This is the aircraft for Nigeria – Airbus 220 family, the jack of all trades for Nigeria. You see it all the time in Nigeria. This is the A350 and when you enter it, you will see heaven on earth in the aircraft. This is the big one here, the A380 – the double decker. Look at it, you can’t get it bigger than this.
“This is an A330, it’s awesome. We also have A320. These are the models of Airbus. They are awesome aircraft and we are trying to get some of these into the country with our private airline operators. We want to make the conditions conducive enough for the aircraft leasing companies to bring these into Nigeria, but this is the major factory of Airbus in Toulouse.”
On every social media platform, the 1.59 seconds video has gone viral with majority of commenters pouring out their anger over the supposed sincere comment.
Some of the negative comments from key players in the sector read: “Everything was wrong with the video. Now, Keyamo is a sales representative of foreign aircraft manufacturer. Still, you are looking for where he did wrong? Institutional corruption is building up in the administration of our government.”
Another commentator declared: “It was inappropriate for Keyamo to be technically advertising modes of aeroplanes to his audience as if he was a staff of the aircraft manufacturing company.”
Amidst the negative criticisms, there are still others, who commended the minister for his sincere efforts, believing it will bring positive results in the nearest future.
However, as the controversy over the video recording rages, one obvious fact is that while the minister has sincere purpose for his actions and therefore any little error should be overlooked, those opposed to the video also have their reasons for it.
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Without doubt, besides Airbus, there are other aircraft manufacturers like: Boeing, Embraer, Bombadier, Cessna, Beechcraft and others whose aircraft types are in the fleet of the Nigerian airlines. Those who opposed the singling out of Airbus for the minister’s commendation must have spoken from the premise that other aircraft manufacturers who are competitors of Airbus must have felt uncomfortable with the video.
In a situation where the minister is making frantic efforts to woo aircraft manufacturers and other relevant international companies to invest in the sector, he should have remained neutral without speaking that glowingly about one of the manufactures. Except if the minister intends to pay similar visits to other aircraft manufactures and speak in the same manner as he spoke about Airbus.
Therefore, those who expressed their displeasure at the Airbus video show should also not be castigated. Since other manufactures are in the same business with Airbus in Nigeria, there is therefore the need to give everyone equal opportunity.
and then