Nigeria is short on requisite skills and poilicies to drive a thriving aviation sector, even in the face of opportunities opening up, experts say.
BusinessDay checks show that there are presently five major prospective investments in the country’s aviation sector, some of which promise to kick-off this year.
The Federal Government plans to partner with manufacturing organisations within and outside the country, to establish a training aircraft assembly plant in Nigeria. Furthermore, the sum of N1.25billion has been provided to supply and install a simulator.
In addition to these, the African Aircraft Leasing Company (AALC) plans to invest over $ 20 billion in the country, to facilitate the leasing of aircraft to Nigerian operators, setting up an aircraft Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) centre, spares logistics and supply, as well as aggregated services solutions.
Tokunbo Fagbemi, the Executive Director, SpringFountain Infrastructure Limited said that with the current policies on ground, these projects cannot thrive. Fagbemi therefore suggests that in a bid to bridge the gap, the government will need to provide exemption from certain charges, such as customs duties, and grant pioneer status, to create a one stop shop for the processing and issuance of all necessary permits and licenses.
“These projects will need fiscal support from the government. The importation and clearing of aircraft spares will need to fall under a different customs clearance regimes. We will need a special visa regime and dedicated immigration procedure for crew and workmen in the aviation industry. Airport concession fees and other charges will need to be waived or differed, for these brand-new aircraft and especially for the MRO bound aircraft,” she said.
Fagbemi added that the Federal Government should work to align Nigeria with international standards on control and compliance with aircraft noise and fuel emission and should invest in aviation education, skill building and skill development capacity.
“Nigeria needs to be ready to shoulder these huge investments in the aviation sector. With the current deficit of manpower and unfriendly government policies, I do not think these investments will ever be sustainable,” an operator who craved anonymity told BusinessDay.
The operator went on to say that these investments are very capital intensive and that if the investors perceive that their investments could be at risk, they may withdraw.
He recalled that between 2015 and 2016, the sector lost over $2 billion in investment from international financiers who wanted a stake in Nigeria air transport sector by building an MRO, but the depleting fleet of domestic airlines and inconsistent government policies have halted the investment decision.
The five Civil Aviation Training institutions in Nigeria include the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, the International Aviation College, (IAC), Ilorin, International Helicopter Flying School, Enugu, Landover Aviation Training School, Ikeja and Aeroconsult Training School, Ikeja.
BusinessDay’s findings show that NCAT, which is the biggest aviation school in Nigeria, graduates an average of 500 trained personnel yearly, followed by IAC Ilorin, which produces between 60 and 80 pilots yearly. Other schools produce between 150 and 200 trained personnel yearly.
Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, said that these numbers are not sufficient to address the growing travel market in Nigeria, adding that the country needs trained work force in ICT firms, aerospace manufacturers, MRO, power plants engineers and mechanics.
Over the next 20 years, Boeing is forecasting that the world would manufacture over 39,600 airplanes valued at more than $5.9 trillion because the total number of aircraft in year 2015 will increase from 22,510 units to 45,240 aircraft by the year 2035.
This will come from the manufacture of 39,620 new units of various types of aircraft worth $5,930 billion. It is predicted that Africa will require 1,150 units valued at $ 170 billion.
Sirika explained that the engineers, ICT experts, pilots, amongst others that would join and participate in the design, manufacturing, operations and maintenance of these aircrafts would be in excess of 1 million people. There will also be additional need for additional aviation infrastructure to service the increasing fleet of aircraft.
The minister raised doubts as to whether the current Nigerian University system or Technical Education system as they stand today, would be able to train, educate and produce experts and professionals that will participate in this $5.9 trillion dollar marketplace.
IFEOMA OKEKE
