NIGERIA: National Airline To Commence Before End Of This Year, Says Aviation Minister

Nigeria’s Aviation Minister, Hadji Sirika has announced that Nigeria will have a very strong, viable national airline before the end of 2017.

According to him, the project would be private sector driven, and the federal government may own only three percent of the airline.

“When we came in we were very clear on our targets and goals and what we set out to achieve, and we did say that Nigeria does need a national airline. The national airline will be one that the government will have no hand in; normally it can have three percent,” he said.

“It will be private sector-led, private sector-driven. Except with the Ethiopian airline it has been proven that government doesn’t do well with this kind of venture.

“We are going to have a national carrier; it is on course and because it is a PPP thing it has to go through IC and C, and also has to follow all the due process. So it is time-consuming but I hope very soon before the end of the year we will have a very strong viable national airline.”

He said the carrier is necessary, considering the size of the market available in west and central Africa — equivalent to that of the US and Europe.

“For me, if any air line will have the capacity to deploy several aircraft with seamless operation, non disruptive, provide the service, go the long haul, take advantage and give other international airlines a run for their money, we don’t need to get involved; it is because there is none.

NIGERIA; Nigeria Has Highest Room Rates In Africa

Revenue from hotel occupancy in Nigeria is expected to hit $401 million (about N80.2 billion) this year, Jovago, Africa’s largest hotel booking portal, has projected. Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Kushal Dutta, disclosed this at a breakfast meeting with the media in Lagos.

Dutta, who advocated greater attention from government to boost the industry growth, also maintained that the figure would further rise to $442 million (N88.4 billion) by the end of 2017.

He said: “Although, we expect the sector to grow by double-digit rates in 2018-19, we also foresee a periodic drop in the short-term.

For the long term period, we expect the situation to improve as we record a 6.6 per cent compound annual rate to 2.2 million rooms in 2019 from 1.6 million rooms in 2014.”

He explained that with Nigeria having the highest room rates in Africa, it is expected that the prices will keep growing with projected increases averaging 2.7 per cent compounded annually over the next four years.

Also, he said the number of hotel rooms would more than double during the next five years with that growth occurring predominantly in Lagos. He said: “There will be an estimated 10, 000 rooms in 2017, up from 8, 800 in 2014, a 20.7 per cent compound annual increase.

This increase will be well below the expected growth in room availability and occupancy rates will plunge, falling to 25.3 per cent by 2018 before edging up to 26.8 per cent in 2019.”

According to him, while there are still a lot of latent opportunities in the Nigeria’s hospitality and tourism industry, the government has yet to give the industry the attention it is required.