Nigeria does not blush about the quality of its own airports. Furthermore, her top officials know that African airports generally are not at par with their counterparts in Europe or Asia. This is perhaps why the federal government has suggested the need for the introduction of new strategies in order to attain sustainable development of African airports.
The Secretary to the federal government of Nigeria, Boss Mustapha, who identified the strategies while participating in the 59th Airports Council International (ACI) Africa Conference, held at Oriental Hotel in Lagos, on Wednesday, named them to include: holistic planning for defined development targets; effective and efficient financing plan and successful implementation.
Mr. Mustapha, who pointed out that the role of partnership with the private sector could not be over-emphasized, cautioned that the strategies need to be complemented by a reliable legal, institutional and regulatory framework to institutionalize policy.
Focusing on the theme of the forum: “Business Transformation For Sustainable Development of African Airports”, Mr. Mustapha stated that the Nigerian government has continued to promote infrastructural development, facilities renewal and the implementation of policies aimed at facilitating the growth and sustainability of the sector.
According to him, some of the key events and projects undertaken to achieve the objectives included: the hosting of the World Aviation Forum in Abuja; the Certification of two of the nation’s key airports namely; Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; as well as the construction of five new international terminals (Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu) to expand passenger handling capacity to 15 million annually.
The top Nigerian official declared that in 2017, the aviation sector facilitated the movement of over 7.6 billion passengers, 109 million tons of cargo and 89 million aircraft movements.
Mr. Mustapha, who described Nigerians as highly mobile, said the aviation sector would need to be ready at all times to take millions of the flying public to their destinations.
