Nigeria's newly inaugurated federal government has set out an Aviation Road Map intended to reposition the country's air transport industry after years of underinvestment, with Senator Hadi Sirika, appointed Minister of State for Aviation following President Muhammadu Buhari's inauguration in May 2015, leading the initiative.
The road map identifies six priority areas: the establishment of a new national carrier, concession of the terminal buildings at the four busiest airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt, creation of an aviation leasing company to help local carriers access aircraft on better terms, development of an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, an aerotropolis project around Abuja's airport, and a broader push to rebuild the technical workforce that has thinned out over successive administrations.
A National Carrier, Again
Nigeria has been without a designated flag carrier since Nigeria Airways ceased operations in 2003, and successive attempts to create a replacement, including the short-lived Virgin Nigeria venture, have struggled. The new plan envisages a carrier that is majority privately owned and commercially run, distancing it from the state-controlled model blamed for the collapse of its predecessor.
Concessions and Infrastructure
Officials argue that concessioning terminal operations to private investors, rather than leaving them under direct control of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), would unlock funding for badly needed upgrades at facilities that have drawn persistent complaints from travellers and airlines over the state of runways, terminal buildings and passenger amenities.
The road map is presented as a multi-year programme rather than a set of immediate deliverables, with the ministry indicating that implementation would be phased across the life of the new administration. Industry stakeholders have broadly welcomed the stated ambition while cautioning that Nigeria's aviation sector has seen similarly detailed plans announced by previous administrations without full follow-through.