Louis Ibah
In the late ‘90s when Moses Etop first travelled to the United Kingdom in pursuit of a post-graduate degree, the distance between the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Heathrow Airport in London was about 6hours, and it remained so till 2003.
Etop, like the majority of Nigerian air travellers in the ‘70s up until the mid-2003, enjoyed the privilege of flying aboard the country’s national carrier, the Nigeria Airways, which provided direct scheduled commercial flights on the lucrative Lagos-London route, as well as on 20 other international and domestic destinations. Of significant note was that the economy class fares on routes flown by the Nigerian carrier were easily affordable for most low and middle income Nigerian earners. In fact, most foreign carriers in competition with the Nigerian Airways had to constantly reinvent their products and services (including discount fares and free accommodation) to woo Nigerian passengers. However, plagued by mismanagement, corruption, and over-staffing, Nigeria Airways was liquidated by erstwhile President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 with debts totalling US$528,000,000.
“I never imagined an age where I will spend 12-15 hours on a journey between Nigeria and the UK because I have to fly on a foreign carrier routing me through Dubai, Doha, or Addis Ababa because their fares are more affordable than flying British Airways or Virgin Atlantic; but that is the reality today,” said Etop.
In a chat with Sunday Sun at the Lagos international, Etop lamented the situation where most travellers between Nigeria and foreign destinations are at present left with no direct flight connections through their national or flag carrier and have to go through connecting flights with layovers that could last between 3-10hours.
“For strange reasons whenever you find a direct flight on foreign carriers from Nigeria to Europe and America, the fares are usually very exorbitant unlike what is obtainable in neighbouring countries like Benin, Togo, Ghana etc.
“But people must travel for either trade, commerce, education, tourism and leisure. And I thought President Muhammadu Buhari would keep to his campaign promise, and that by the end of his first term (2015 – 2019) the country would boast of a functional and vibrant national carrier,” Etop said.
First term achievements
Sworn in on May 29,2015 as Nigeria’s sixth democratically elected president, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) had set out to reform the Nigerian aviation sector with his ‘Roadmap for the Aviation Sector’ – a project and policy document which placed high premium on investments in critical air navigational and airports infrastructure that will ensure a zero-accident record for the country.
The roadmap also had as its other components, the concession of the country’s international airports, establishment of a national airline, establishment of a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hanger, and the development of an agro-allied/cargo terminal.
Those who flew commercial flights in Nigeria between 1999-2013 cannot forget in a hurry the spate of air crashes that characterised the industry.
But by the end of his first term in May 2019, Buhari’s greatest achievement appears to have been a four-year zero air accident record in the Nigerian civil aviation industry as no life was lost to any mishap on a commercial flight.
It is also to the credit of the Buhari government that about 1,500 jobs were saved as it intervened to rescue two debt-ridden local airlines, Arik and Aero from total collapse. Both are currently in operation, but under the receivership of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), which is trying to recover over $500million owed creditors.
And statistically, in the aviation sector, the country has recorded an average growth of 33 per cent on domestic operations and 11 per cent on international operations, while under President Buhari there has been a marginal increase in aviation sector contribution to GDP from 0.4 per cent to 0.6 per cent.
The failed projects
The quest to float a Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO) hanger to save the local airline industry an estimated $2.5billion spent on foreign hangers for C-checks on aircraft, just as the bid to relaunch the national carrier project (Nigeria Air) failed in 2018. And the rot in infrastructure across the country’s airports’ terminal and navigational facilities under Buhari still persist even amid investments estimated at over $1billion. And of the 22 airports in the country (with eight international airports), it is only the Lagos and Abuja international airports that are certified to International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard. But none of these failed projects had such impact on Nigerian travellers like the Nigeria Air project.
At present, Nigeria has Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) with 83 countries, many of which have been reviewed to create opportunities for domestic carriers, but are largely not utilized (only 10 per cent BASA utilised ) due to the limited capacity of the existing domestic airlines. The lucrative Lagos – London, Lagos – New York, Lagos – Dubai, Lagos – Johannesburg routes are left for the monopoly of foreign airlines without any reciprocity from any Nigerian airline. In fact, a data from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) indicated that the Nigerian economy losses about N400billion annually as capital flight to foreign airlines who enjoy the monopoly of flight operations on 90 per cent of routes that a Nigerian carrier should reciprocate. And this negative trend, is not just fuelled by the absence of a national carrier, but also the lack of vibrant local carriers.
The way forward
The Chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Nogie Meggison, described the fiscal policies in the Nigerian aviation sector which include taxes paid to regulatory and airport managers as “a system that is continuously manipulating, feasting and pushing the financial envelope of airlines by inflicting multiple taxes, charges and levies to the extent that airlines are now groaning under the pressure and some are going bankrupt.
“A case in point is the recent takeover of Arik Air and Aero Contractors by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in the face of huge financial burdens that have shown themselves as fallout of the multiple and sometimes unfair charges, levies and taxes airlines are forced to grapple with on a daily basis.”
In the last 27 years, Meggison pointed out that flawed government policies have culminated in sending over 27 airlines under in the belly of the earth.
Hisposition was corroborated by Gabriel Olowo, President of the Aviation Round Table (ART).
According to Olowo, “essentially it is a Nigerian business environmental factor. Business and government are permanently at variance. Cost is permanently higher than income. Tax over burden and infrastructural deficit erode revenue steadily. Gazetted policies that will enhance performance are not implemented.”
“Credit is not in the Nigeria business dictionary. Yet Aviation is prone to the most minute situation in the economy ranging from weather to politics, reckless holidays, etc.”
Even with all these charges, many of the airports in the country do not have runway lights and navigational landing aids. This means such airports are only open between 7:00a.m and 6:00p.m daily. To this end, airlines can’t fully utilise their airplanes for 24-hours operations. No airplane or factory machine can be profitable only from 7:00a.m to 6:00p.m daylight operations. Airplanes like factory machines are supposed to operate for 24-hours. And no matter the investment in airport infrastructure, it is the airlines that operate into the airports that assist in utilising the airports to increase GDP for the country.
In Buhari’s second term, the way forward, according to stakeholders in the industry, lies in cutting down on taxes for airlines and investing in the requisite airport and navigational infrastructure that would boost seamless airline operations.
Oluyinka Abioye, former secretary general of the Nigerian Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) said: “Domestic airlines should be encouraged with tax waivers where necessary, they should be given rights as applicable to foreign competitors and be supported in their quest for international operations, but with a caveat: that any infractions will not be permitted or tolerated.”
Abioye in an interview with Sunday Sun also said thatnthe Buhari government should take extra steps to boost security and safety around the country’s airports.
“All areas of our airport security should be put in check, manned by well trained and purposefully oriented individuals.
“At the moment, there are multiplicity of aviation security being performed by all and sundry without a clearcut definition of areas of work, duties to be performed etc. This should be stopped,” he said.
For Olu Ohunayo, the spokesperson for the Aviation Rount Table (ART), the solution to the industry woes lies with the nomination of an experienced Minster for the Aviation sector.
“The new aviation minister should look at one or two items on the 2015 ‘road-map’ that can be achievable and see how to achieve them as part of the next-level plan for the industry.
“The new minister should also ensure that the industry is commercially viable; he or she should work out practical ways that the airports and the local airlines would be commercially viable because it is the non-viability of the airports and airlines that have remained the bane of the industry. We still don’t have a clear-cut commercial policy for the industry,” Ohunayo said.
But for Etop, the establishment of a national carrier remains the key for the unlocking of the full potential of the Nigerian aviation sector for national growth and prosperity.
“A national carrier will assist in the country’s aspiration to create an airport hub in Lagos and it also hold the potential of creating 20,000 jobs in its first two years. This is a project that Buhari should pursue to a logical conclusion in his second term,”Etop advised.