•I’m poised to help domestic carriers grow economy–Keyamo replies
By Chinelo Obogo, [email protected]
Since assuming office as the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development last year, Festus Keyamo has embarked on several trips to aircraft facilities abroad, which according to him, seek to simplify the process of acquiring airplanes on a dry lease arrangement for Nigerian airlines.
His most recent trip was to Airbus, an aircraft manufacturing giant based in France, where he was seen in a short video clip posted on his official X handle, illustrating how the different types of planes work. The video drew much flak from Nigerians who accused him of ridiculing the country by acting as an unsolicited spokesperson for a foreign entity.
An aviation analyst and principal managing partner, Avaero Capital, Sindy Foster, said in a television interview, that rather than focus on what the industry needs, which is a leasing company and a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility, the minister has turned himself and Nigeria into a global laughing stock, faffing around in a most bizarre fashion.
But the minister has refuted the claims, saying they were ignorant. For a while, there has been clamour from airlines and aviation stakeholders on the need for the Federal Government to establish a leasing company and an MRO. The call for such facilities to be established heightened when a former Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Rabiu Yadudu, revealed that Nigeria lost $2.5 billion in the maintenance of its aircraft to foreign MRO facilities in 2021. To typically carry out C-check on Boeing 737 aircraft or its category, airlines spend at least $1.8 million and C-check is carried out on aircraft every 18 months.
Though the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, which the current minister was a part of, ratified the establishment of a leasing company, a vital component of the aviation roadmap, which would allow civil aviation access to lease equipment at affordable rates within Nigeria, the project never took off till the end of Buhari’s tenure. Foster said Keyamo’s many trips abroad has not yielded anything positive for the industry and urged him to instead, focus on what matters.
She said: “The minister is not trying to get the leases directly from Airbus, he is trying to get Airbus aircraft from lessors and his intentions are a bit confusing because part of the aviation roadmap is to create an aircraft leasing company for Nigeria. Instead, he seems to have left the aircraft leasing company and has decided to arrange deals with aircraft lessors on behalf of Nigerian airlines. He hasn’t specified the terms of financial guarantees. He has given reassurances in terms of repossession of assets if deals don’t work out but it is really unclear and I think he needs to go back to the roadmap and fully understand what the aviation industry truly needs.
“The previous minister (Hadi Sirika) was talking about assembling aircraft in Nigeria and we saw the current minister going to that same company and looking at the aircraft that was going to be assembled in the country but now, he is getting excited about bringing aircraft into Nigeria. I think it is all starting to look very confusing and we need to go back to the basics and look at the real issues in Nigeria. When people are having to take out loans at 26 percent interest rate, it is not really solving the problem that already exists. We have already got a depletion of airlines’ fleet. There was a time we had up to 207 aircraft in Nigeria, now we have about 40 aircraft flying. Bringing in new aircraft is not the solution to the problem. We need a maintenance facility in Nigeria and we need to lower the cost of MRO services. We need to be able to decrease the time that we bring aircraft into service, whether it is leased, owned or maintained.
“We need policies that speed up the process of spare parts coming into the country and we need to reduce those costs. We do not need all the trips overseas on what looks like a begging mission, looking for favours. We need to get back to work. I got a lot of respect for what the minister is trying to do but I wish that his people would hold back some of his enthusiasm. He is turning himself and Nigeria into an international laughingstock. He is now a meme. We do not need our aviation minister into a meme.”
But the minister defended his numerous trips abroad, saying it is important that Nigerian airlines get the support of the government to be able to get aircraft through dry lease arrangement, something they have been unable to do because of the country’s negative rating.
Responding to the criticism on his official X handle, Keyamo said that some ‘so-called aviation experts’ who have failed to do anything over the years to help revive the industry are suddenly pontificating as if they hold some ‘magic wand’ to turn the industry around.
“Aircraft leasing, in particular, dry leasing is one factor that will help boost the business of local operators in our airline industry. No airline company in the world or even any government for that matter can afford to purchase its fleet of aircrafts one hundred percent. The biggest airlines in the world depend on dry leasing in particular. One other factor, amongst others, is the establishment of MRO facilities within the country. We are currently wooing investors in this regard.
“Should government completely abandon local operators to fend for themselves? What can government do to help in this regard? It is simple. Government should provide the enabling environment for these businesses to thrive by providing the assurances to aircraft manufacturers and leasing companies around the world that their aircrafts are safe within the country if they lease them to our businesses here; that includes assurances and guarantees that these creditors can secure their assets anytime there is a default. This is in line with the Cape Town convention to which Nigeria is a signatory. It is our duty as a government, to provide this comfort and assurance to potential lessors. We are currently on top of that and the package would be revealed soon. The lack of this is one big factor that has led to the high mortality rate of airlines in Nigeria in the last 40+ years. There are other factors too.
“Some so-called aviation ‘experts’ who have failed to do anything over the years to help revive the industry are suddenly pontificating (as they have always done) as if they hold some ‘magic wand’ to turn the industry around, when in fact we know they are speaking for some interests who think the aviation industry in Nigeria is their birthright. I challenge them to a public debate on this. We are determined to go far and near to woo aircraft leasing companies and aircraft manufacturers to come to our aid. There is no shame in doing this now since we lack capacity to produce our own aircrafts or to purchase them. So, please expect more videos of us introducing aircraft manufacturers and their products to Nigerians as we continue our drive to woo them to invest in our Nigerian businesses,” he said.