Airline operators in Nigeria are urging the government to create a clear Aviation Policy that would raise the sector’s contribution to the GDP from 0.4% to 14% and create at least 10,000 direct and 100,000 indirect jobs by 2019.
Led by their Chairman, Captain Nogie Meggison, to a meeting with the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, the operators proposed the conversion of Nigeria’s airport terminals into domestic terminals for all of West Africa, to bring business, revenue and create jobs.
The propositions are coming on the heels of appeals seeking the Minister’s intervention in the allocation of more foreign exchange to the operators, resumption of Jet-A-1 aviation fuel production in Nigeria, implementation of importation duty and tax waiver on imported aircraft parts and exemption from value added taxation among others.
The Minster assured the operators that all their challenges would be addressed, with domestic and foreign operators’ interests protected.
He further stressed that the greater advantage would go Nigerian operators, with navigation, communication, runways, terminal building and security listed as the priority areas.