When The Daily Times honoured Festus Keyamo, SAN, as Minister of the Decade, it provided an interesting moment to take stock of the minister’s stewardship of Nigeria’s aviation sector.
Awards, of course, are subjective. They do not replace independent performance assessments, nor do they mean that everything in the sector is working perfectly.
But they provide an opportunity to ask a legitimate question: what exactly has Keyamo done since becoming Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development?
The answer is a fairly long list.
Perhaps the most important development has been the broadening of the aviation policy conversation. The sector is no longer being discussed only in terms of airports, terminals and the perennial question of a national carrier. Increasing attention is now being given to aircraft financing, safety oversight, maintenance and engineering, indigenous airlines, airport investment, cargo, digitalisation and human-capacity development.
That broader approach is important because aviation is not simply about moving passengers from one airport to another. It is an economic ecosystem.
SAFETY AND ICAO COMPLIANCE
The first responsibility of any aviation administration is safety.
Nigeria has recorded a significant improvement in its international safety-oversight assessment during Keyamo’s tenure. The Federal Government has reported a 91.45 per cent ICAO safety rating, which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu described as a major achievement for the country.
The significance of the rating goes beyond the number itself. International safety oversight is central to the confidence of airlines, passengers, investors and global aviation partners.
There is still work to do, but improvement in regulatory oversight is an important part of the story.
AIRCRAFT FINANCING: THE QUIET REFORM
One of Keyamo’s less visible initiatives may eventually prove to be among the most consequential.
Nigeria’s airlines have historically struggled with access to affordable aircraft and financing. The minister therefore placed considerable emphasis on Nigeria’s implementation of the Cape Town Convention and the Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorisation (IDERA) framework.
The Ministry has reported that Nigeria’s Cape Town Convention compliance score improved from 49.5 per cent to 70.5 per cent and subsequently to 75.5 per cent following further administrative reforms.
To the average passenger, this may sound like bureaucratic language.
It is not.
Aircraft lessors and financiers pay close attention to the legal protection available to their assets. Greater confidence in the regulatory framework can potentially improve Nigeria’s access to aircraft and capital.
That, in turn, affects the ability of Nigerian airlines to expand.
THE MRO PUSH
For decades, Nigeria has had the market to sustain a major aviation industry without developing a corresponding maintenance ecosystem.
That has meant significant maintenance activity taking place outside the country.
The groundbreaking of the Air Peace Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Lagos, with Embraer involvement and Nigerian financial backing, represents an important attempt to change this.
If successfully completed and commercially operated at scale, the facility could reduce the need to send aircraft abroad for some categories of maintenance, strengthen technical capacity and create opportunities for Nigerian aviation engineers.
The Ministry has also pursued technical training and collaboration involving global aviation companies and institutions, including Boeing and Cranfield University.
The significance of these initiatives is that they look beyond today’s passenger numbers towards the development of an aviation industry with its own technical backbone.
SUPPORT FOR INDIGENOUS AIRLINES
Keyamo has also consistently emphasised the development of Nigerian airlines.
