WHY NIGERIA AVIATION IS IN DOLDRUMS

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This is the situation today. Arik, Aerocontractor and IRS, as at today, remains the surviving airlines serving the Nigerian teeming air passengers. It is so sad that this is happening at a time when the country dramatized its struggle to get its Category 1 status from the American Federal Airports Administration (FAA) which had over the years placed a ban on direct flights from Nigeria to America.

In what seems like a situation of hopelessness, the authorities in the Nigerian aviation industries have almost exhausted every measure to make the sector work. Pathetic enough, when the running of the sector was left in the hands of the aviation workers full scale in the past, the level of despondency, corner cutting and embezzlements rose to high heavens. It was so bad that some workers were richer than the agency they represented. Infrastructure was in abject decay and cases of over-billing were mere past-time. It was so ominous that former president, Obasanjo, worried by the level of official recklessness and brigandage at that time, resolved not to put a dime into the then flag carrier, Nigeria Airways. According to him, over twenty aircraft were in the fleet of the carrier when he left office as military head of state in 1979. And by the time he came back in 1999, the airline was left with one airworthy plane in its kitty.

This describes the state of our aviation sector at that time. And it was this naked mismanagement and wanton disregard for professionalism, honesty and dedication to work that brought the concept of concession into the sector under the same administration. According to Obasanjo, the idea was to shed the weight of responsibilities of operators in the sector to allow them concentrate more on pure aeronautical matters.

This concept to put Nigeria in tune with the new global trend worked effectively.

Concessionaires trooped in, and life crept back into the sector. People like Richard Branson, the multi-billionaire of Virgin Conglomerate came to invest in the sector as well as many Nigerian technocrats. In no time, financial buoyancy kissed the once cash strapped sector.

Today, things have again taken a negative drift. As if our Civil and Public servants in the various sectors are trying to out-rich each other, as in the case of the present Oil Subsidy fraudsters, Pension Fund cash-keepers, House of Representatives Power Sector probe, the Nigeria Security and Exchange Commission (NSE) oversight function probes, etc. The hawks in the aviation industry, in their frantic and clandestine scheme to revert to the old order, have seized the industry in the most terrific manner and now they are reaching for its jugular in an attempt to finally snuff life out of it. They have rehearsed and perfected their antics such that any minister that comes becomes easy prey to their machinations. To them, the era of concession must end for them to have their ways.

But for how long shall this visible hide and seek continue? For how long will the government continue to look the other way even as the aviation sector is getting stuck by the day? It is time to go back to the basics. Let’s face the fact. There are some concession points that have to go back to their original initiators. There can never be a better person to execute a project than he who possesses the idea. Yes, there may be some lapses in some concession agreements but the fact also remains that these lapses, are input of these thieving heads of parastatals, who out of desperation to rip off on government, forced the concessionaires to create loopholes from which they can satisfy their unquenchable greed.

It seems the Federal Government and the current Minister of Aviation, Stella Odhua have realized this trend and have craved for sanity but they seems trapped with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, usual gimmicks. Only recently, FAAN had been directed to recall a concessionaire, Pan Express Limited, the creator and initiator of cargo management and handling operations at our airports. From reliable sources, before FAAN hijacked the job and chased the company away, this company has over 250 staff. But the problem is that the ministry and the Federal Government have been reduced to a dog that could only bark but lacks the bite. Amazingly, since the order was passed on to the FAAN by the Federal Government to ensure the company’s reinstatement, the situation has remained the same contrary to the legal advice of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation.

This is happening at the risk of a heavy penalty that may come in form of compensation for some of these deprived concessionaires who have already resolved to litigation.

The story of investment in Nigeria has been that of sorrows, blood and tears including gnashing of teeth. From Richard Brandson’s Virgin Nigeria deal to the local concessionaires that were engaged to prop up the fortune of the aviation sector, it has been disappointment galore. While some contracts were abruptly terminated in the most shoddy way, others like Pan Express which was found to have been unjustifiably deprived and was recalled is still finding it difficult to regain entrance in spite of the company’s enormous financial and professional contribution to the cargo sector of the aviation industry.

As we speak, the aviation minister is abroad with all manner of people from Nigeria, conducting a road show, which is her own idea of attracting investors. In her estimation, by the time the show is ended, investors would be falling over themselves to invest in the aviation sector in Nigeria. This is novel indeed.

But would the road show prevent these targeted foreign investors from knowing that the state of insecurity in the country is not friendly to investment? With all these industrial inconsistencies, who will be willing to invest with FAAN still around simply because they have seen the beautiful face of the minister smiling at them as she dances through the streets of New York and other choice cities of the world ahead of her delegation?

Would the minister also tell his hosts the gory state of aviation infrastructures in Nigeria? Would they know that conveyor belts do not work and that it takes passengers more hours to collect their luggage after landing than it does for the journey itself? What about the rampant cases of bird strikes?

She probably doesn’t know or care that no serious foreign investor will go into any country without doing due diligence. She may also not know that the information she provides will be verified to ascertain the authenticity. Probably, our minister may have forgotten that all the ambassadors of various embassies from different countries represent their investors and that these ambassadors know us inside out?

Or do you think that the foreigners do not know that once an aircraft crashes in Nigeria, the first thing our government does is to close the company down. It is never known in the annals of aviation practice that if an Air France or British Airways crashes, the government of their home countries will close them down.

But, in spite of all of these, the Oyibo man will chose to play along with her.What would be the need of scaring her away when the foreign exchange she and her people had brought on shopping would help in paying workers, who will in turn pay taxes that would help in providing social amenities and ensuring that their social security system remained functional.

I think the time has come to don our thinking cap and do things right. Let us keep our house in order and treat our local investors aright. It is when we are seen doing the right thing by respecting contractual agreements and putting our infrastructures right that will determine our aviation industrial growth. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.

Written By Gboyega Adeoye

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