By Chinelo Obogo

One of the biggest obstacles to Nigeria’s export growth is logistics as exports arrive international markets more expensive than competitors due to logistics cost and associated charges.

In 2022, over six new cargo airports that opened or about to open across the country are largely owned by states.

But in the fgace of these developments one question to ask is what is the enterprise plans for these airports? How will they grow Aviacargo using their business plan?

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To address this, the second edition of Chinet Aviation and Cargo Conference has been scheduled to hold on September 7 to 8, 2022 in Lagos with the theme: “The Role of Insurance and Regulation in Growing Exports, Aviation and Cargo Business in Nigeria”. This is expected to build on the successes recorded at the last event and also address the challenges thrown up during the last conference. It is expected that the session on airports will give all the other Cargo Airports in Nigeria an opportunity to make presentations on their capacities and inherent viability prospects for the airports.

Presently many  cargo airports in Nigeria were built with no warehouses and facilities for cargo. The development of cargo airports has led to a demand for a National Aviacargo Master Plan by the Federal Government or states and regional airports to increase the uptake of Aviacargo in Nigeria.

This is critical because Aviacargo industry in Nigeria is almost non-existent or at the lowest stage of development. This according to stakeholders is because Nigeria still brings in more tonnes per week than it exports in a month. Almost all domestic cargo are road bound. There is a need to change the scenario by integrating the airports to the markets.

It was observed that Nigeria is still categorised as a high risk country for aviation and it is believed that the insurance premiums for airlines operating in Nigeria are higher than in other countries. This increases the cost of doing aviation business in Nigeria.