Matthew Kukah’s birthday could have been devastating had it say discussed buying the Bakassi Peninsular from Cameroon and converting it into the world’s largest aviation industrial complex

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Our aviation industry is in a crisis as airlines are pulling out of Nigeria, aviation fuel is scarce, carriers are finding it hard to obtain credit to renew their fleets and overseas maintenance costs are crippling operators

[2] If Nigeria was a country that had any shame, we would be eternally embarrassed about the fact that the world’s largest black nation does not have a single aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility. MRO is an essential requirement to ensure that aircraft are maintained in pre-determined conditions of airworthiness to safely transport passengers and cargo. Airlines go through regular rigorous checks just as cars have to have an MOT every year to prove they are roadworthy

[3] What this means in practical terms is that whenever any aircraft lands in Nigeria, it leaves immediately to be maintained elsewhere. In plain language - There is no aircraft mechanic workshop in the whole of Nigeria

[4] Globally, the commercial aircraft MRO market is influenced by external factors in the wider air transport industry including global fleet size, aircraft utilisation and increasing and decreasing air traffic volumes for both passengers and cargo. In 2015, the global MRO market was worth $135.1bn, representing three quarters of the $180.3bn aircraft production market

[5] Over the 2017–2026 decade, it is expected that the MRO market worldwide should reach over $900bn, with 23% in North America, 22% in Western Europe and 19% in Asia Pacific

[6] In 2018, the commercial aviation industry expended $88bn on MRO, while military aircraft spent $79.6bn, including field maintenance

[7] Across Africa, the only MRO providers are South African Airways Technical (Saat), Ethiopian Airlines Maintenance and Engineering, Kenya Airways Technical, Air Algerie Technics and Tunisair Technics. There are also joint ventures such as Air France Industries’ and Royal Air Maroc’s Aerotechnic Industries

[8] Given how centrally located Nigeria is in Africa, the fact that Nigerians are the continents most travelled people and being the largest economy, we should be Africa’s aviation workshop, generating at least $20bn a year from MRO

[9] I want to see Nigeria buy the Bakassi Peninsular and covert it into the world’s largest aviation maintenance facility. Open an MRO depot there, build the world’s largest aviation fuel depot there and attract aircraft manufacturers to open factories on the site

[10] If the Nigerian elite were a thinking people, this is the kind of discussion they would have been having yesterday as Bishop Kukah’s birthday. I would love to have seen the APC and PDP commit to attracting an additional 20 international airlines to Nigeria over the next four years