President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that African Development Bank (AfDB) is collaborating with the Federal Government to address the several infrastructure decay especially in its aviation industry in Nigeria.
This is as the bank also said that it has invested $20bn in African in the past 10 years to tackle infrastructure deficits in the continent.
Speaking today at the on-going third World Aviation Forum (WAF), organised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Buhari decried that infrastructure gap on the continent was a huge challenge confronting the aviation industry.
Buhari who was represented at the forum by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President, observed that in the next 15 years passenger and freight movements would increase on the continent, but expressed worry that the infrastructure on ground may not be able to adequately address the challenges.
He explained that in order to tackle the challenges, African Governments needed to collaborate with major private investors, stressing that without this; most of the challenges would remain.
Also, Sen. Hadi Sirika posited that $775bn was required to address the development infrastructure deficiencies in Nigeria.
He noted that the sum of money required to address the challenges were high, but would produce opportunities for investors.
He declared that Nigeria was strategically located to the Gulf of Guinea with markets boasting of varieties.
He said that Nigeria with a population of estimated 170 million people, represented half of the entire population in West Africa, ought to play a leading role not just in the sub-region, but on the continent.
He said: “Aviation is certainly the way to go and the only way for our country to develop. This ICAO’s forum is the only way to develop the sector in this country.
“I believe Nigeria is the best place for investors to invest their resources. Federal Government and some stakeholders in the sector have come together to develop aviation roadmap, which entails security and safety. Our national carrier project would be private sector driven, but with a maximum of 5 per cent resources from the government.”
Also, President of AfDB, Mr. Akinwunmi Adesina disclosed that the bank had contributed about $20bn to develop infrastructure on the continent.
He explained that out of this amount, $1bn was expended on developing aviation infrastructure in Africa.
He added that the sum of $600m would soon be released to the Federal Government to back its diversification of economy and promote the aviation industry in Nigeria.
Adesina described aviation industry as a catalyst to development, noting that with effective infrastructure and commitments from the continent’s government, aviation would add additional $73bn to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He, however, lamented about the cost of air travel on the continent, which he said, was over 200 per cent higher than Europe and 250 per cent higher than that of India.
He emphasised that air travel is high in Africa because of unwarranted charges and taxes, which added up to airfares.
He called on African Governments to address the situation in order to make air travel more accessible to its citizenry and also urged the governments to open their airspace more for intra-Africa air operations.
