Nigeria will be Africa’s aviation hub by 2050 says Former NCAA Boss
Despite challenges bedeviling the Nigerian aviation industry, former Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, on Tuesday said that the country’s aviation industry has great potentials for growth, stressing that the Nigerian aviation industry will be big by 2050.
Demuren disclosed this during the second edition of the Nigeria Travels Mart Colloquium which held at theRennaissance Hotel, Ikeja Lagos with the theme; Vision 2050: How to Fastrack Nigeria’s Aviation.
While delivering a paper titled: “A Template for Fastracking Aviation by 2050”, the Former NCAA boss who is the Founder and Managing Director of Evergreen Apple Hanger, noted that Nigeria has the largest population in Africa which is one of the factors that would serve as catalyze for growth in the aviation industry.
According to him, at the moment we have a population of 187 million people in the country and by 2050, we will have a population of about 400 million people emphasizing that that is a huge market in Africa and across the world, adding that the aviation industry is going to grow in passengers’ traffic and cargoes.
Demuren affirmed that presently, Ethiopian Airlines has almost 30% of its tickets sold in Nigeria which he stressed was a huge capital flight adding that by 2050, the country would have gotten strong carriers that would favourably compete with other international airlines.
He said: “Now, we are gaining little by little in the aviation industry but by 2050, it will improve tremendously. Nigeria will be the center place in aviation in Africa”
“Aviation is big and strong and it is one of the major factors that boost economic growth in any country. The future is bright in Nigeria and we can make it even though we have our own challenges”.
The former NCAA boss, however, said that the top airlines in the world like Emirates, British Airways, Etihad Airways, and Ethiopian Airlines, amongst others, are doing great because they are doing the right things thus calling on airline operators and the government to start doing the right things so that the Nigerian aviation sector will move to greater heights.
Speaking in the same vein, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), RTC Advisory Services Limited, Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje, while presenting a paper titled: “Raising Capital to Finance a Vision 2050 Plan” said that Nigeria need about $50 billion to re-position its aviation sector to make it competitive by 2050.
Agbaje stressed that it was the duty of the government to provide all the necessary infrastructures and capital to ensure that the aviation industry remains vibrant in providing air services to Nigerians.
According to him, as at half year 2017, the transportation and storage sector which include aviation contributed about 1.4% to the economy noting that while other sectors were far ahead aviation was lagging behind.
He said, “Look at transport and aviation, look at the patterns and plans that we have. One of the major problems is the discontinuity in government policies”.
“Transportation and storage was 2.88% in 1999 but currently in half year 2017 it is 1.4%. The size of transportation in 2014 was $7.5billion and in 2016 it dropped to $6billion”.
Agbaje emphasized that aviation is an enabler of other sectors of the economy in boosting economic and business activities within and outside the country.
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