For Nigerian carriers to survive operations on international routes, in this interview, a top aviation analyst and President of Aviation Round Table Initiative,, Elder Gbenga Olowo told journalists at the 23rd annual Conference and Awards organized by League of Aviation and Airports Correspondents (LAAC) at Radisson Blu Hotel IKeja, Lagos, that the Federal Government and Nigerian airline operators must be show their full participations in aeropoliitics.
Excerpt:
Can you just give a summary of the paper you just presented on how to boost aviation through policy?
Well, the summary of the presentation basically is that there are very, very tangible assets in the aviation industry going from airlines to airport, to terminal building that could attract investment, provided the four policy thrust that I tried to identify are driven by policy. Policy needs to drive those four thrust, stakeholder satisfaction, the investors, the consumer and of course safety and security. Policy thrust that are directed towards achieving solid objectives. Objectives that we will set with strong dashboard imperatives whereby we will be able to measure. Not just run from here to here day to day but we need to run into the feature 5 or 10 years from now. We ever occupies a position to drive policy must be measured, and those elements to measure are divided into 5 in my presentation, but the summary is that the regulatory framework must be stable, the political environment must be stable, because a Mr President today need not be there tomorrow for us to respect certain contracts that are signed with stakeholders, that must be stable. We must have stable regulatory framework, we must have stable legal framework. Regulation shouldn’t be changing the way we change our dress. A regulation that drives economics, we cannot continue to be prodigal the way balance of trade against Nigeria is handled. We need services from foreign partners but we say that those services cannot be provided by us. And that is the emphasis that I made. If we cannot run our businesses then we will not be able to manage even ourselves. If we say Nigerian aviators cannot give birth to solid and sound Nigerian airline that means that maybe Nigerian shouldn’t be our governor. Nigerian shouldn’t be our president, Nigerian shouldn’t be our legislator. But as long as Nigerian remains our president, commissioners and governors and local government chairman, and congress, then Nigerians are available to run airlines for us. We have all that solid resources provided the policy thrust are followed.
What is your opinion on aeropolitics?
Well, aeropolitics is politics, and if you look at the grammar of politics, the grammar of politics basically addresses the area of influence which is very important in politics. Our people in government especially the Ministry of aviation, and the Civil Aviation authority (CAA) must be able to influence a lot of things with our carriers. When our carriers approach them, they must not see them as a disruption; they must see their table as a fulfillment to what the stakeholders are asking for. For instance, if we give birth to a national carrier tomorrow, and the ministry or the CAA does not follow the objectives to the letter, and they just say you are designated to China or to London without influencing the way things happen at the other end with government influence, that airline won’t survive. We heard during the conference the slot that Nigeria Airways was using, how Arik couldn’t get it on time. Arik as a carrier is a player coming to compete with their own carrier, so there will be unseen resistance, despite what you call anti-competitive rule. But the influence of our government is vital, number one, politics involve power also, it involves authority. Both power and authority we should not throw away in politics. What is power? When ADC was grounded in London, our former President, General Sani Abacha grounded British Airways here, which is power and authority. So, basically politics is politics and the elements of politics we must look at it even in business. We shouldn’t just put our own son on the stage and back out. And then begin to say our son is weak or bad. Yes if he is weak and bad, we have a duty to make sure that he is strong. And all the elements of that weakness, Nigerian airlines that are there have been talking about them, they are numerous. And how far has the government gone about all those issues? Fuel taxes, airport problems, airspace problem. We heard at the Aviation Round Table last quarterly meeting, there are times in the air that the pilot is flying on his own. The radar covers everywhere but there is no communication, so the pilot is flying blind. How far have we resolved that problem? So government policy must drive objectivity and objectivity must be measured.
How can the government ensure that policies consistent?
It does not matter the government of the day, the policy has to be there. We must plan into the future. One of the presenters was talking about planning to the year 2030, that kind of plan must be there and it does not matter who is president today or aviation minister tomorrow, that plan must be followed. And that is why I have always been advocating that the CAA is the authority for aviation. I want the power of the ministry reduced to the very minimum because most of the time people in the ministry are on political appointments. They are politicians who represent the face of aviation to government but they don’t understand. Somebody is from Women Affairs as the Permanent Secretary in aviation, how can she understand aeropolitics? So we need to reduce that ministry to the barest minimum and allow CAA to be in charge. in the US FAA is under the department of transport and FAA controls even the airspace, here we have all the big, big, office that are uncontrollable. Rather than work together they are working in different directions.
