Public-private partnership is the key to the development of the aviation sector

Minister of Aviation and Space Development, Festus Keyamo, stressed that public-private partnerships are essential for the sustainable development of the aviation sector.

Keyamo shared this perspective during a recent YouTube interview with O’tega Ogra’s “Unfiltered: The Big Interview,” in which he discussed his plans for infrastructure and capacity building in the aerospace sector.

He noted that there is currently no infrastructure ministry that can undertake large-scale projects such as maintaining airports to international standards. Therefore, public-private partnership is the most viable solution.

Keyamo also stressed that for local airlines to remain profitable and sustainable, both the private and public sectors must work together to ensure that Nigerian travelers do not become overly dependent on foreign airlines.

He also noted that due to the deficit budget system, it is almost impossible to undertake large-scale projects, therefore he emphasized the essence of public-private partnership.

He said: “We have a multi-pronged approach to this because not just one approach will solve this problem. Firstly, you want to make sure that they are viable, that they are commercially viable, and then of course you want to make sure that flying passengers also get the best deal in terms of ticket prices. You just mentioned one of them, to support them, to make sure they survive, to support them trying to take on the challenge on international routes, so that we don’t leave our international routes at the mercy of foreign airlines that come here to exploit our people.

“Currently, there is no ministry of infrastructure that would be able to implement such large projects in the envelope system. The envelope system means the budgeting process because we always have a deficit budget, so if we have a deficit budget, how do we ensure that such large projects are implemented? This is not possible within the budgetary system, so the infrastructure ministries are FCT, Works, Housing, Blue Economy, Aviation and maybe one or two others. These are infrastructure ministries.

“Only through PPP can we make progress in this direction and turn the situation around. So for those who complain that our infrastructure is dilapidated, that our airports are not as good as they should be, that they are not up to international standards: I have only been in this role for eight months; there is no one who can build large infrastructure in even two or three years; and that is a fact. The only thing you can do is keep what you have, make them at least a little bit convenient, useful and customer-friendly while you work on the big problems.

He added: “We are looking at bringing in the private sector, which we have already started doing with the Home Secretary, we both worked together on that, we changed the arrivals wing, the D wing of the International Airport. Shell came and did a lot for us, I’m sure you saw that. This is a beautiful entry into Nigeria. E Wing, it’s coming. We are focusing on D and E and we are talking to one or two people now, corporate bodies, they are about to set up their own, but Shell has done it for us.

“They’re about to take off from D Wing, both departure and arrival, and of course the Wing-E arrival, because we just finished the Wing-E departure. So these are the low hanging fruits that we are looking at to turn things around. The bigger picture is that we need to transform these terminal buildings into proper transport hubs, which would mean completely rebuilding most international airports.

He stressed that staff reorientation was necessary to improve the ministry’s efforts.

“How do we sustain what we have seen on the ground with low-hanging fruit? First of all, we are trying to change the attitude of officials who are supposed to manage these airports, we are trying to change their mentality. I said on another show that most of them are not prepared for the training, the bike-like mindset, even the motivation they give them, the type of salary they receive, they are not prepared to improve their skills and make these airports as customer-friendly as they should.

The minister further highlighted his five-point regulatory change agenda and plans for the aviation sector in line with President Bola Tinubu’s renewed agenda.

He said: “First, of course, safety, because in this industry the most important thing is the safety of the traveling public, so our first agenda is to enforce strict compliance with our regulations. In other words, as a minister, I should be able to supervise regulatory agencies to strictly adhere to and enforce their safety standards to the extent that we raise ratings in the IA, because the international civil aviation organization rates you and the country according to the way they enforce their regulations, safety standards and so on. This is our first program.

“The second step will, of course, be to improve infrastructure across the country. We know that the size of the country, the number of people traveling, the type of economy we have and the ambitions we have as a society do not match the type of infrastructure we see in our airports. So yes, we are still not proud of the type of infrastructure that we have, compared to global standards, global standards that we see all over the world where we travel. So this is obviously the second goal we set for ourselves
we agreed for ourselves.

“The third one will be the support of our local operators. Over the years the government has not pursued a deliberate policy, perhaps it has done so quietly, but previous governments have failed to make it clear that our focus should be on the fact that we should support local operators and ensure that they survive, that their businesses survive and that they sustain them. in line with the best international standards.”

He added: “If you look at the history of the aviation industry in Nigeria, we have had a very high airline fatality rate. I don’t know if you’re old enough or if those who are listening to you are old enough, but for those who are old enough to know that in the last 40, 50 years, over 100 airlines, I mean 100 have flown and it went away. They just died. From Okada to Concord to Zenith Airlines, from Chachanga to Bellview to ADC, I can name names over and over again. They just came and died. Then we started asking the question, why did they go under? A lot of them in a short space of time and I felt it was time for the government to focus on them and how we can support them to survive.

“The fourth will be to increase the capacity, training and re-skilling of our staff in the aviation sector, whether they be engineers, instructors, regulators or simply developing human capacity in the aviation sector. The fifth step will be to increase revenue, not only putting more burden on travelers, but also plugging any leaks and gaps and ensuring that we maximize our potential to increase revenue. These are the five areas we focused on when we took over the office, and we are committed to implementing this 5-point program consistently.”

He further emphasized that as Minister of Aviation and Space Development, his emphasis on life safety cannot be overemphasized.

“You have recently witnessed some of our activities regarding the security of the Nigerian public, without risk. This means that this is our policy. We believe this is our philosophy. This means we don’t take any risks. Some people tried to teach me about disruptions. Looking at the law, laughing, I said, look, you know the law better than me?

“As minister, I take no risks when it comes to the safety of the flying public. I am accountable to Nigerians, not to the so-called experts who are in their homes. I have taken an oath that I will be responsible to Nigerians as well as to my employers and I must serve them diligently and not listen to the murmurs coming from some corrupt elements behind me. I won’t do that as long as I keep pushing, as long as because I insist that you have to look, enforce your regulations, you have to follow the regulations strictly and make sure that we are safe.

“As long as I am in this area or heading towards it, I have done nothing wrong. If my interference with quotes is to say, “No, relax your laws, please don’t ban them so much, don’t be too strict on them, if that’s the case, you can blame me.”