The Aviation industry will in the near future contribute over N500 billion to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually and support more than 200,000 jobs, the Federal Ministry of Aviation has said.
The Ministry also said it projects that the sector will contribute an additional N300 billion to the Nigerian economy directly and indirectly. This, it said, will come from additional investments, construction of the infrastructure and foreign direct investment inflows into the industry.
Stella Oduah, while speaking on the topic, “Understanding the Master Plan” in Lagos, said that there is also the forecast that by the time the Aerotropolis Project is completed, additional 80,000 – 100,000 job opportunities would have been created.
She added however that inability of Nigeria to reciprocate on its Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) rights, dominance of international carriers on regional and international routes to and from Nigeria, resulting in capital flight of about N300 billion annually among others, had debarred Nigeria from attaining its envious glory in aviation.
She also attributed part of the deep-rooted problems to leakages in revenue collection occasioned largely by manual collections.
“Stagnant aviation manpower development and human capital flight of indigenous aviation professionals and experts; inability to take advantage of the favourable geographical location and demographic advantages of Nigeria in the West African sub-region.
“Also, a total absence of maintenance and repair organisations (MROs) with the attendant drain on foreign exchange had been the bane of the sector,” she said.
Oduah added that with the prediction of giant aircraft manufacturers, Airbus, the sector must be repositioned to align with global developments.
“Airbus projects that the number of passengers will rise by 145 percent between 2007 and 2026 from 2.5 billion to 6 billion. Air transport will directly employ about 8.5 million people and contribute $1 trillion to world GDP.
“Aviation, its supply chain and the spending of employees in these businesses, will support 23 million jobs and $2.6 trillion of GDP. In relation to tourism, Aviation will sustain 50 million jobs and $3.6 trillion of GDP; even more when you consider the impact of other industries dependent on aviation that are harder to measure,” she assured.
Written By Sade Williams
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