Five-Point Agenda: Keyamo Ticks All Boxes In Three Years, Targets Navigational Equipment Upgrade
When Barrister Festus Keyamo (SAN) was appointed as Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation & Aerospace Development in August 2023 by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, skeptics held apprehensions about his choice for the aviation sector. His response was a promise to “prove the naysayers, wrong.”
In this exclusive interview with AVIATION MONITOR, Keyamo shares some of his achievements, intentions and input on air transport leadership in Africa.
Q: TO WHAT EXTENT WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOUR MINISTRY HAS REALIZED THE TARGETS IT SET FOR ITSELF?
A: I looked back recently and I picked my five point agenda one by one. I said, Thank God that without deliberately over-stretching myself and by God’s grace, one by one, we have achieved all the five.
One; we talked about development of infrastructure. We are doing that now. In the last 20 to 30 years, I don’t think any government has voted as much as the President has voted now for infrastructure and upgrades. For Lagos alone, its $500 million, to rebuild the Lagos airport. The other ones were by loans. We did some by loans before and all that, but this is the biggest renovation we are doing. That is infrastructure upgrade.
We talked about safety also. To enforce safety measure was one of the five point agenda. Safety is number one in aviation. We moved to the extent that we continued to move up the rating of ICAO, 91.4%. That is ticked already.
The third one also is human capacity development. We have ticked that. Go and ask Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Their biggest training over the last few years has taken place there. Under our watch also, the Aviation University has taken off. So in terms of human capacity development, we have ticked that box.
Then, we talk about support for local airlines. There is nothing bigger than what we have done for the local airlines. Am sure people have followed it. Even, it has drawn criticisms sometimes, but there is even nothing bigger than what we are doing. The Cape Town Convention, the Irrevocable De-Registration and Export Request Authorization (IDERA) we have done for them to bring back confidence to the Nigerian ecosystem and of course, the Nigeria Aircraft Leasing Company that the President has approved. These benefits are not only for any other person but for the local airlines where we want to get leased planes for their benefits. We have ticked that box also, the fourth one.
The last one of course, is to optimize revenue. Look at what we are doing with the Gates now. We are automating the Gates. We are not increasing. We are just optimizing, to make sure that what we ought to get, we get.
Look at it. All the five points agenda; in less than three years, we ticked all the boxes and God will guide us for the last lap to see how far we can go again.
Q: TENURE IN OFFICE IS NOT PERMANENT AND CHANGE IS A CONSTANT THING. AS SOMEONE OVERSEEING THE INDUSTRY, ARE THERE THINGS YOU WOULD HAVE WISHED TO SEE DONE IN THE INDUSTRY THAT ARE YET TO BE DONE?
A: On a broader scale, I wish all our navigational equipment are in. We have gotten approval to upgrade our Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON). I think that is the first thing that comes to my mind. The President has approved some money for us to upgrade our equipment. He has released some. We have started the upgrade. I wish and pray we can upgrade all of them to international standards. We have good navigational equipment but most of them are going obsolete. Our air traffic controllers are still one of the best in Africa because they are really doing their best to use this equipment. So, our skies are still safe. The point is that we must continue to upgrade. My hope is that we get all the funds out on time and get our TRACON onboard.
The other one is our dual view. The dual view between the military civilian view, they call it. We are in the process of processing that for Mr. President; to look for special funding where the dual view ensures that any object, no matter how it flies, we can pick it up in the country. There are objects now within the country, below a certain height. We cannot pick them. Though we are good but we still need to cover everything to the ground. If for example, people fly too low, and enter the country, we may not be able to pick them out, whether drones, aircraft and all that. It is very rare though that it happens, but we still want a total coverage. That’s what they call the dual view.
Q: ON THE NEW MURTALA MUHAMMED INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT RECONSTRUCTION, DO YOU THINK THE 22 MONTHS TARGET FOR COMPLETION CAN BE MET WITH THE PACE OF WORK THERE?
A: I think we will have it even before then. You can see the pace at which they did the temporary shifting. The first milestone has been paid to them. If the second milestone is paid on time, I think we will be ahead of schedule.
Q: MANY INDIGENOUS AVIATION PROFESSIONALS ARE LEAVING AFRICA FOR OTHER CLIMES. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO RETAIN AND IMPROVE AVIATION MANPOWER IN NIGERIA?
A: First of all, we have increased pay for workers of Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and NAMA, their conditions of service. We will go back again within our own restricted financial capacity in Nigeria. We have tried to raise conditions of service for most of the agencies in the aviation industry. Government is not employing pilots again since there is no more Nigeria Airways. So, it is for the local airlines to up their game but we have a lot of trained and skilled people in Africa and they don’t have jobs. Many of them are looking for flight hours, how they can gather it, get certification, go for type-rating and all that. On our own part, for workers under aviation, we are seeing how much we can tell government to enhance their conditions of service. We have got approval for NiMET now and even for Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), we have got approval for improved conditions of service from the Revenue Mobilization & Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC). That is the small step we have taken for now but it is still not the end. We are still going to push for enhancement of their conditions of service.
Q: IS THERE ANY UPDATE ON THE PAYMENT OF FORMER NIGERIA AIRWAYS WORKERS?
A: We have gotten the approval. On my own part, I pursued it to the President approving it. Now, Finance Ministry will look for the money and give to them. So, all the approvals are on the table of the Minister of Finance as I speak with you. My brother, the Finance Minister, will work to get the money anywhere and give it to them. On my own part, we have done everything.
Q: CONTINENTAL COOPERATION IS CRITICAL FOR AIR TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT. WOULD YOU SAY THAT THE AIR TRANSPORT MINISTERS IN AFRICA ARE COOPERATING ENOUGH?
A: At the end of the day, we are Ministers who still report to sovereign authorities in our countries. So, it is now the ultimate political will of the African Union that will move this forward. Why do I say so? I have said it repeatedly that it is not only within the powers of the aviation and transport ministers alone to open up the borders. You also need the Foreign Affairs Minister because tied to the free movement across Africa, is also the issue of visa restriction, other policies and foreign affairs policies. What is happening in South Africa now, is it aviation? No. It is purely diplomatic issues. Foreign affairs and Interior is involved with support of immigration issues and all that. So, the Foreign Affairs Ministers, the Immigration officers, must also team up with the Transport and Aviation Ministers for this work.
Q: THERE ARE STILL SOME GOVERNMENTS IN AFRICA THAT ARE YET TO ENABLE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SAATM INITIATIVE AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF SEEING THE IMPACT. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR SUCH COUNTRIES?
A: I think what is driving them to do this is protectionism. Many of them are very protective of their sovereignty, their national spaces; and many of them are also trying to protect some routes either for their flag carriers or their national carriers and they don’t want competition on those routes. So, they are still paying lip service to Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM). We have about 36 signatories now. We still have about 16 to go. Even among those 36 signatories that have signed, they have still not implemented it. The advice I have for them is that this is a symbiotic thing. It is symbiotic because SAATM does not only help those countries you give SAATM access to help your country. It is symbiotic. You cannot connect Africa without giving fifth freedom rights to those properly designated airlines from SAATM countries. My advice to them is that they are slowing down the development of Africa without connecting Africa. That is one thing the banks have realized at the end of the day. They have tried to promote trade over the years. They have tried to promote development tourism in Africa over the years but it is not working. Why? because you have not done the basic thing. Connect Africa first. Now, they are all back to the drawing board. They are now promoting aviation in Africa. They are trying to modernize fleet, promote human capacity development, infrastructure. They have all of these packages; both the Afreximbank, the African Development Bank, etc. For those countries therefore, my advice to them is this. Please, they should not hamper the growth and development of Africa. It has a multiplier effect. The moment you connect African and implement fifth freedom right, it promotes tourism, trade, investment, even in their country. When you make it difficult for people to come to your country and you make it difficult for you to go to other countries, how can you promote intra-African trade? It is not possible.
Q: WHERE DO YOU SEE NIGERIA’S AVIATION INDUSTRY IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS?
A: If we keep the policies on track, keep the pace on track, the infrastructure upgrade on track and with Lagos being a proper transit hub in the next five years, we will be looking towards Addis Ababa to say, Addis Ababa, we are coming for you.AM
