Visa on arrival is the easiest way to open up for all Africans — Uko

Ambassador Ikechi Uko is the National Coordinator of the Federal Government’s Aviacargo Roadmap Committee and the organiser of the popular Akwaaba African Travel Market as well as the annual Chinet Cargo Conference. In this interview with SHOLA ADEKOLA, he speaks on the challenges confronting Nigerian airlines and the recent upward review of visa fees for some countries, among other issues. Excerpt:

WEST Coast used to be a lucrative route for Nigerian airlines but it is no more so. Is there a reason for this?

I would not agree that Nigerians are losing the market. Nigerians still travel, maybe not in large numbers like in the past. Before now, we were the major entrepreneurs in West Africa. We supplied almost all the wealth that was distributed in West Africa. Now, other people are also rich and they can travel, but I don’t think we are losing the market. The only thing we have lost is the control of the aviation business in West Africa. There are dominant connectors of West Africa – Air Senegal, Air Cote d’lvoire and ASKY – they cover more of West Africa than any Nigerian airline. So, aviation in West Africa at the moment is not in the hands of Nigerians. But when you look at the market generally, because of our population, in terms of economic activities, we still play a major role in the market. But in aviation, we seem to be losing.

 

What are your thoughts on Nigerian airlines not keeping abreast of the changes and doing the right things?

I don’t see any Nigerian airline that has a vision to dominate West Africa. I don’t see a plan by any Nigerian airline to be the major player in West Africa. I have not been told; I have not seen any. The ones that are already flying, the way they have aligned their business is beyond West Africa. So, until one comes across one that plans to be the King of West Africa, then we can start having discussions. We can’t be the hub, we are not the hub. There is no plan by any Nigerian airline that I know to fly to every capital in West Africa.

What I knew Ethiopian Airlines did was that when any African country became independent, they try to connect a flight to that destination. So, there was a long-term plan to be the masters of Africa by Ethiopian Airlines and now it has benefited them. There is no Nigerian airline I know that had a plan to dominate West Africa. Maybe some of them planned it internally, but it has never been communicated publicly for outsiders like me to know that there is a plan to be the masters of West Africa.

 

ASKY Airlines seem to have a long-term plan to dominate West and Central Africa. What is your view on this?

That is an airline that was set up from the beginning with such a plan to be a Pan-African airline. And ASKY means African sky. So, the vision is there; it is captured in the name, it is captured in everything they do. They fly to 28 destinations in 26 countries with only 14 aircraft. So, from the beginning, that vision is very clear that we want to be the King of West and Central Africa, e want to be the major airline in West and Central Africa and within five years, they achieved that.

Now, they are connecting East Africa, they are connecting South Africa. They are now going to France, but they spent more than 10 years consolidating on West and Central Africa. Then they started South Africa maybe by the 10th year. Then they started Nairobi by the 10th year. And they are now saying, okay, France, after that we will connect North Africa. So, they have spent 10 years consolidating their operations in West and Central Africa and today they connect almost every capital city in West Africa. And what is surprising is that they are operating from a small country. They don’t have domestic markets. So, they primed to go international from there, but they started slowly, small and planned well.

 

Do you see any Nigerian airline following that trend?

Just recently, I was in Kenya because of Jambo Jets. Jambo Jets owns 52 percent of the domestic market in Kenya. Jambo Jets is a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, actually doing better as it were than its big brother (Kenya Airways).

So, a Nigerian airline could also have a spin-off that would dominate the local markets just like Jambo Jet and now create an international flight service and have an international link with big airlines. The small airline will mop up people from various airports and bring them to Nairobi for the big airlines, especially Kenya Airways and others to take them to international designations. Jambo Jet does 10 flights daily between Nairobi and Mombasa and does maybe 10 flights to Kisumu; they mop up everything. So, this is a proper hub and spoke operation that is working very well.

It is also possible that a Nigerian airline, which I thought Air Peace was trying to do with the City Hopper. From my study of the data provided by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Air Peace international operations have less delay, have fewer complaints and actually done well when compared to its local operation. So, the City Hopper was a good idea, but it did not go beyond that.

And for Jambo Jets, they have a different board; they run as an independent airline and that is why they could actually go and do a partnership with ASKY when Kenya Airways also flies Nairobi to West Africa. That shows you that though they are owned by Kenya Airways, they are also independent in what they do.

Some African countries like Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, have developed their tourism sector; how can Nigeria take a cue from these countries? The first barrier with Nigeria is visa. Our government has not figured out how to make Nigeria a destination. They have never asked people like us so that we can tell them that visa on arrival is the easiest way to open up for all Africans.

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The government issued a statement in 2018-2019, saying Nigeria would issue visa on arrival. That was done badly, I can tell you. It was not done very well. Even at that, as we are now mastering it and improving on it, government has just added first $90 biometric charge. So, if your visa was $25 before, it is now $100 +. This year, the government has changed the biometric to $190. There is no visa you pay for coming to Nigeria that is less than $200. Why would you be charging fellow Africans $200 in this economy just for visa? That is terrible.

Secondly, Nigeria is secure in most of the places the tourists will go to. We have not had issues of tourists having problems in Lagos. We have not had issues of people having problems in Enugu, Uyo, Port Harcourt, Abuja, even in Kano. For most people who are in tourism business, you must be guided. Don’t just pack your bag and say you are going to Kutuwengi for tourism. Then you turn out and say Nigeria is not secure. No, you are not wise.

There is a hiking epidemic happening in Nigeria now. Every weekend or there about, more than 10,000 hikers are moving around Nigeria. There is never a sad story. The only sad one we had was a guy who drowned in the waterfall in Nassarawa two years ago. But these hikers are moving because they do due diligence, they take local guides. But for people who don’t know how tourism works, you say, ‘oh, it is unsafe.’ Why? You carried your bag without even talking to the local guide.

As I am talking to you now, just recently, some of my mentees went to Yobe to do the desert, went to all the places in the North East. Once you have a local guide, the local guide will take you around. Yes, there are seasons of insecurity. There are spots of banditry. But once a local is involved, you are good to go. You have to have a local security. You go with the local guides. Do not go on a tourism adventure without a local guide. When people say where would those people (tourists) go, it is ignorance. And the problem is that the people who don’t know insist they want to talk. That is the unfortunate thing in our business. The ignorant people are the loudest and insist they want to talk. But tourism is going on in Nigeria. Domestic tourism is having its best time in Nigeria.