Last week the Nigeria’s National Action Committee on the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) organized its maiden Implementation Engagement Series for Aviation Industry, gathers stakeholders to have a feel of what is expected of the local aviation community. There was a myriad of considerations to actualize the expected impact of the continental initiative (AfCFTA). The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika led by calling on the committee to look at outstanding issues concerning the implementation of Yamoussoukro Decision (YD), the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the proposed African Union Passport among others. The Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Musa Nuhu pointed out the reason why it is difficult to get SAATM on and Funke Adeyemi, a director for Africa with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the convener of the engagement gave factors for considerations as well. Ariyo Akinfenwa monitored the engagement. Excerpt:
For effective implementation of AfCFTA in the aviation sub-sector, the National Action Committee needs to look into challenges in the implementation of SAATM itself. Harmonization of border management protocols, to enable seamless facilitation of goods and people. This is very important for perishable goods. For example, you cannot fly bananas across borders and keep them in the storage facilities for days. Efforts to fast-track the implementation of African Union Passport to eliminate the requirement for visas should be considered. This can facilitate easy movement for businesses or frequent flyers across the continent.
The whole essence of civil aviation is to facilitate fast and create efficiency in journeys as we advocate for the strengthening of AFCAC (African Civil Aviation Commission) to harmonise civil aviation regulations for aviation service providers in order to actualize the Yamoussoukro Decision and SAATM which is the flagship project for the African Union Agenda 2063 to enforce appropriate rules and regulations to give fair and equal opportunities to all stakeholders and promote fair competition. We also advocate for special support for aviation industry specifically, to fast track systems upgrade in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu in a view to matching international best standards. In our own modest way in Nigeria, we have developed these five airports. We have completed Abuja, Port Harcourt and put to use, Kano is completed and will be put to use in March, Lagos will be put to use in the same March and Enugu in due course.
I commend the Nation Action Committee in trying to sensitize all sectors for the implementation of AFCFTA. Aviation as the elitist sector is a myth. Civil Aviation is for all. It connects markets and businesses, nations and nations, cultures and cultures, history and traditions, schools and children, etc. If SAATM is implemented, it means there will be more accessibility to civil aviation, there will be more connectivity and that would bring down prices and make civil aviation affordable. Implementation of SAATM means aviation will be for all of us.
Some of the objectives of AfCFTA is to create a single market, deepen economic integration within the continent and minimize dependence on non-African trades and services. Also to resolve the challenge of multiple and overlapping memberships to achieve a sustainable and increase socio-economic transformation within member states and enhance the competitiveness of member states within Africa and in the global market.
To envisage the common market of 1.3 billion people, spread of a land mass of 30,370,000 sq km, endowed with wide range of agricultural and natural resources, one should expect high level of competition at the implementation stage and operationalisation of AFCFTA.
As the current Minister of Aviation in Nigeria, you may want to know how the aviation sector is gearing up for the implementation of AfCFTA now and in the next few years. The basic call of transportation especially air transportation is to facilitate movement of the people, goods and services in safe, environmentally sound, affordable and secured condition. Aviation is essential for economic and social development, providing vital links between centres of transactions and market and more goodies, makes aviation vital for successful implementation of AfCFTA.
Conscious of the fact that even realizing the need for a whole and robust air transportation system, the Nigerian government has developed and approved an aviation roadmap to which we are implementing in the last 6 years. This implementation of the roadmap has shown to us that we are getting it right because aviation grew to become the second-fastest-growing sector in 2018 and also become the fastest growing sector in 2019 in the Nigerian economy. These are National Bureau of Statistics figures. It improves the GDP from 0.4 to 0.6 at the time before Covid-19 came in 2020 and put aviation at backstage.
Aviation is an accelerator. It is the only sector that can traverse borders quickly with speed and relatively safely, because of all the technical standards that are put in place since 1945. We believe aviation can really be an accelerator for the AFCFTA and so does African Union which is why they have three flagship projects which they launched in 2018 and 2019 starting with the Single African Air Transport Market. What SAATM is designed to do is to create a Pan African air transport market; almost a domestic market across Africa that connects cities by air. The AFCFTA is to create one African market which is proposed to be the largest trading block in the world by 2035 if it is done right. And of course, we have another initiative called the Free Movement Protocol for people and goods which looks at visa regimes and customs regimes across the continent. These three together are really dedicated and ensuring the smooth facilitation of people, goods, and services across Africa in order to help the African Union and all Africans realize the objectives of integration towards prosperity and unity.
Factors that can help market integration in Africa through aviation vis-à-vis implementation of AFCFTA.
How do we as a sector help to build a sustainable system for trades, goods, and services?
Connectivity: Without connectivity, it is going to be difficult for us to realize the benefits of any framework agreement whether it is the SAATM, whether it is AfCFTA. Connectivity is essential in terms of the ability to connect people and goods by different means and the airlines are going to support us to do that in accelerating the growth and the implementation of AfCFTA. And it is for both passengers and cargo. Connectivity of course also brings other benefits with it such as growth in GDP and socio-economic development and so on.
Open Border: This is what we talked about in terms of free movement protocols. We need the visa regime to be able to help people move around. We also need the right customs regime and the right border automation border control and so on, to support the movement of people, goods, and services to the development growth and sustainability of the African economy as we begin to recover from this pandemic.
Cargo Specific: Trade facilitation is an issue. We need to automate and we need to use technology to drive some of the issues around the movement of cargo. We need to unblock issues that are currently creating a challenge in terms of people’s ability to move goods and services.
Supply Chain: Cost competitiveness and charges
The propensity of people to fly, affordability, is an issue across Africa just as the Minister of Aviation said that aviation is still been viewed as an elitist market.
Regulations and the policies government put in place to enable the players and private sector to do what they need to do to enhance both air transport and trade.
Nigeria is the second after South Africa in domestic air traffic. What this means is that as goods move in and out, especially coming in, there is an opportunity to also move those goods within Nigeria. We are not only looking at AfCFTA, the role Nigeria is going to play alongside other African countries, we are also looking at domestic production and growth.
With a population of 1.3 billion and a GDP of $2.6 trillion, It offers incredible potential for continental aviation and with the implementation AfCFTA and SAATM. Nigeria is the dominant market in Western and Central Africa and a major market in the continent, has excellent opportunities and potentials and these have been largely ignored or not exploited over the years. It is a significant opportunity for Nigerian airline operators to go into cargo business and transport these goods massively and few hours to their destination countries. It will be cheaper and it gets there faster, which will lead to the growth of this market.
Aviation is a catalyst for commerce and tourism and other economic activities. Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is saddled with the responsibility of creating an enabling environment for greater private sector participation in a competitive industry marketplace. In addition to its core mandate on the implementation of Standards and Recommended Practices and safety environment, NCAA must be an enabler of the economic growth of the domestic and regional aviation industry. Currently, the Civil Aviation Act is in the Parliament. Once it is signed and passed into law by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, NCAA plans to convene an industry stakeholders’ meeting to review the current regulatory regime with a view to establishing and adopting smart policies and regulations, which is the right means of performance-based and prescriptive regulations, with special emphasis on Economic Regulations to support and promote effective participation of Nigerian airlines in the SAATM, towards achieving the objectives of the AFCFTA
With the support of the Federal Ministry of Aviation under the leadership of the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, NCAA is currently being restructured and reposition to meet the current and emerging challenges.
We all know the impact the COVID-19 has had on global air transportation and the tourism industry. At the same time, this has given us the opportunity to reset the industry by leapfrogging the current challenges by establishing a more resilient and flexible space within the industry that would resolve to global development and help the industry private sector to take advantage of the SAATM
One of the challenges I see in the implementation of SAATM and no one seems to talk about it. We say 34 countries have signed SAATM’s solemn commitment and Memorandum of Occupation. One key fact we keep forgetting is that a third of those countries do not meet the eligibility requirement in safety and security to participate in SAATM. So effectively, we just have about two-third of those countries signed that can really participate in SAATM. This is one of the challenges the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) which is the executing body of the SAATM is facing, and the regulatory bodies of the states that do not meet the security and safety requirement must handle as well.
Source: Aviation Ages Blog