New Aviation Policy Benefits Nigeria Economically-Dati

The National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) 2013 will enable the country participate in the multi billion naira cargo business being transacted across the African continent. 

The policy has an in-built strategy to encourage the establishment of perishable cargo terminals across the country.

These favourable incentives will drive private sector investments into this key revenue earner, said, Yakubu Dati, coordinating general manager, Corporate Communications, Aviation Parastatals.

He recalled that in the year 2010 alone, total perishable air freight export out of Africa exceeded N245 billion naira.

These were generated from the exports of fruits, fresh fish, vegetables and flowers by air freight. The roll call of African countries that participated in these profitable activity includes Kenya, South Africa, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Egypt. Nigeria was totally absent!

“This is despite abounding  evidence that such commodities litter our landscape in abundance. As a matter of fact, available statistics reveal that the country consumes only 30 percent of such produce, leaving 70 percent to wallow as waste, at great loss to farmers, who constitute about 80 percent of the population. Nigeria has no official records on any form of perishable air freight activity.

“These trends will be reversed with strategies being deployed by the new aviation policy which foresees the establishment of Perishable Cargo Terminals. This development is in line with the Agriculture Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) and availability of new technologies for controlled atmosphere warehousing. This will lessen the challenges of establishing and operating perishable cargo business operations in Nigeria, he added.

According to him, the new policy is designed to propel the development of Nigeria's Cargo sector and thereby link Nigeria's agricultural produce to the international markets with the objective of achieving efficient marketing and price information systems.

The private sector agro-input suppliers will be institutionalised and strengthened; thereby ensuring accessibility, availability and affordability of agricultural export opportunities.

“The aviation sector will assume its pride of place as a major contributor to the socio-economic development of Nigeria as enshrined in the Aviation Master Plan developed by Princess Stella Oduah, the Minister of Aviation,” Dati maintained.