The civil aviation industry has been identified as key to any sustainable growth and development in all sectors of the Nigerian economy.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, made the assertion at the 2023 Aviation Management Retreat (9 November – 12 November 2023) held in Warri, Delta State.
Following a successful Ministerial Retreat last week with Mr. President, yesterday, in Warri, Delta State, I began a retreat for top Management Staff of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and all its agencies. The theme of the retreat is ‘Delivering on the Renewed… pic.twitter.com/iKRNnronRC
— Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK) (@fkeyamo) November 10, 2023
Keyamo said the retreat was very important, considering the fact that one of the major goals of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is to reposition the Nigerian Aviation Industry as a hub on the African continent and the world at large.
Keyamo hoped that his five-point priority agenda would be disaggregated and cascaded into actionable programmes and projects by all departments and agencies under the purview of the ministry.
“Our task in this retreat is to brainstorm, deliberate and carry out a SWOT analysis of the aviation sector with a view to proffering practical solutions to attain the desired results.
“We need to be proactive and circumspect in our deliberations regarding where we are today as an industry, where we desire to be and most importantly, how to get there.
“There is no doubt that growth and development in the aviation sector should be private sector-driven to attract foreign direct investment.
“As policy makers, we have a responsibility to ensure that deployment of policies, programmes and projects are well articulated and in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard,” said the minister.
While describing as ‘unacceptable’ the 70 per cent scored by Nigeria in the 2023 ICAO Universal Oversight Audit Programme as against the 75 per cent benchmark set, he noted that the aviation sector is, first and foremost, a safety and security critical industry.
“Consequently, we must subsequently enforce proper monitoring and evaluation to maintain these standards,“ Keyamo reiterated.
Speaking earlier, Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Buhari Abdulatif, represented by the Vice-chairman, Senator Peter Jiya, in his goodwill messages urged the government to tackle the challenges in the aviation industry by improving the aviation business in Nigeria to attract foreign investments.
He further advocated infrastructure improvement at the major airports, while expressing other concerns, such as safety, high cost of aviation fuel, high operation cost, inadequate funding and resources, flight delays and cancellations and lack of skilled manpower.
Similarly, Mr Abdullahi Idris Garba, the chairman, House Committee on Aviation, represented by Mr Akingbaso Festus, the deputy chairman, in his remark assured the ministry and her agencies of the committee’s commitment to give legislative backings to the fruition of its projects.
