Nigeria’s new Transport Minister, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday said the Federal Government was expecting more revenue inflows from its various parastatals in the aviation industry given its massive investments in acquisition and deployment of state-of-the-art technologies in the industry.
Amaechi, who undertook a tour of the agencies based in Lagos Tuesday, commended the CEOs and managements of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Accident and Investigation Bureau (AIB) for staying steadfast and committed to the cause of boosting the infrastructure in the industry with allocations granted by the government and those generated internally.
He specifically commended the agencies for the installation of safety critical equipment in every airport across the country. The Minister said matched with the level of revenue or incomes, the state of infrastructure in the aviation industry was better than that of some of its counterparts in the maritime sector.
“With what I have seen here today, it shows that Nigerian aviation industry can be compared to any developed ones anywhere in the world.”
Amaechi said, “the government should be commended for what it has done recently. What we saw in NIMASA was nothing to write home about when you compare the money they earn and the facilities you see on ground,” he added. He explained that with the migration to e-clearance by the aviation agencies, the industry would earn more revenues while shorter time would be used to process clearance by airlines. “With this software you have, you can manage your time better and earn some revenues for yourself,” he added.
Worried by the contribution of the aviation sector to the country’s GDP figure, the Federal Government had stepped up investments to stimulate further growth of the sector in the years ahead.
Industry data showed aviation contributed only about N200 billion to the country’s GDP estimated at over $510 billion.
But experts insist the industry has potentials to rake in over N1 trillion as part of its contribution to the GDP if properly harnessed by 2020. Short term growth has been estimated at N500 billion with about 500,000 jobs created for citizens.
The Minister who recalled his experience years back at Akure Airport where his private jet was grounded also demanded greater professionalism from workers.
“I remember my experience at Akure Airport, which was sordid. The Airport Manager, a female, came to me and said the airport was technically closed,” said Amaechi.
“But I believe that didn’t happen to me alone as it equally affected others too,” he added.
Amaechi was accompanied on the tour by the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.
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