Shamsudeen Aminu writes on various steps taken so far by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo to turn around the nation’s aviation sector for the better since he assumed office in August, 2023.
Recently, I flew with a foreigner from Abuja to London. He said for the first time he slept on board a flight from Nigeria. He is an aviation expert and after spending two months in Nigeria on a fact-finding mission, he could sleep.
This is an incredible testimony about the Nigerian Aviation Sector, our Aviation Sector. According to him, the sector has been greatly transformed. Literarily, Festus Keyamo, the current Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development has breathed life into it, and now it has become the African aviation hub and international beauty.
That is exactly what Keyamo has been doing. Everything the Minister touches bows to him becoming good. At the last count, he has turned around two ailing and distressed Federal Ministries back to life.
A former Minister of State, Niger Delta, and renowned human rights activist, with a prolific wealth of knowledge and experience in championing the course of the governing party and that of humanity, while serving as the Minister of State, Ministry of Labour and Employment, his commitment led to the symbiotic integration of the African continent and the promotion of trade, movement of persons, goods and services and the infrastructural development.
Greatly acknowledged for his sacrifices and dedication to duty, especially in pursuing the welfare of the people through laudable initiatives like providing a framework for long-term social security, Keyamo led a transformation of the Ministry, building a formidable framework and establishing a sound platform for good governance and social order.
Keyamo’s passion, courage, confidence, and brilliance as a legal luminary, entrepreneur and established international business mogul, brought to the table several initiatives, innovations and interventions, shaping policies and creating a fundamental understanding of the position of government in serving Nigerians.
The establishment of the Special Public Works Programme in which 774,000 Nigerian youths were engaged, with the monthly payment of stipends greatly arrested the incidence of youth restiveness, created jobs, entrenched a period of peace and security in the country and also revived the coordinating Agency, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
His collaborative endeavour with AU-ECOSOCC focusing on advocacy for child labour, fair recruitment, poverty alleviation, the review of the local contents laws to create room for more job creation and leveraging on AU-ECOSOCC continental structure, has been adjudged as a superlative milestone breakthrough in history.
A man who has built a larger-than-life reputation of honour, integrity and accountability and championed the fight against corruption long before public office, probity and openness remain some of his guiding principles in life.
An innovative, team-oriented, proactive and purposeful leader, Keyamo’s tenure as the Minister of State for Labour and Employment also led to a collaboration with the National Population Commission on the Special Public Works Initiatives which also enhanced the engagement of the nation’s teeming youthful population for Sustainable National Development.
Now as the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, his ambitious dream of making Nigeria the aviation hub of Africa is daily becoming a reality. His intention to transform Nigeria’s air transportation into a catalyst for economic development, a vital engine for global socio-economic growth the premier contributor to the advancement of modern society and a key instrument for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs is gradually but surely being achieved.
Keyamo’s outstanding leadership, patriotism and dedication have earned him several honours, distinctions, awards and recognitions including the “Super Minister Award” from The Street Journal.
As usual, he met an aviation sector that was marred with excessive dollar scarcity, high aviation fuel costs, and multiple taxation. However, his focused, innovative and inclusive leadership has not only transformed the sector with a rare freshness and newness but turned it into an international destination haven and tourist attraction, building confidence in air safety and accomplishing profoundly superlative performance even to the admiration of national and international aviation experts.
His upbeat dedication, conscientious team and people-oriented strategies coupled with several years of public management experience have led to all these achievements. Keyamo has been able to ensure that the incessant and tragic plane crashes leading to over 400 deaths, destructions and economic loss are halted.
He has led Nigeria to being excluded from the Airlines’ $1.7 billion Trapped Funds by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), thereby enhancing her connectivity and economic prosperity. This is against the backdrop of over two years of funds repatriation difficulties faced by international airlines operating in Nigeria.
Working in tandem with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the minister’s effort ensured the clearance of the longstanding backlog of trapped funds for foreign airlines, enhancing international airlines’ trade, and confidence and restoring flight operations, such as Emirates Airlines, in the country.
The withdrawal of the ticket payment exemption granted to highly placed Nigerians at the nation’s airport has also shored up the internal revenue of the Federal Government. Keyamo’s various interventions have led to a tremendous decline in air travel fatalities. He also resolved a protracted land dispute that delayed the commencement of the construction of the Abuja airport’s second runway, removing the challenges that were mitigated against it.
Keyamo led major reforms at the old terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, announcing the relocation of international flight operations from the airport’s old terminal to the new terminal two, making it fully operational.
An effective team player and mobilizer, he collaborated with the Nigerian Immigration Service, in remodelling the arrival hall of Wing E of the Lagos International Airport into a brand-new facility through a Public-Private Partnership.
A man of integrity and frugality, he was able to curb the wastage of public resources and prevent the rot of FAAN’s abandoned Lagos building through the relocation of FAAN’s headquarters from Abuja to Lagos, enhancing the return of the project contractors to work.
Keyamo promptly reconstructed and activated the Lagos Airport Second Runway and, enforced the grounding of planes considered to be unfit for air travel by the NCAA, attracting several international routes for the country.
A man of unquantifiable moral standing, his dexterity and clout influenced the passing of the NCAA Act and the establishment of an independent and thoroughly professional Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) which was set up to investigate air crashes, abolishing the old, inefficient, unsatisfactory, unreliable and subject to manipulation former practice. His confidence-building and altruistic ethical leadership enabled Nigeria to become a signatory to the “Cape Town Convention”, which allowed Nigerian airline operators to secure international loans.
Keyamo’s implementation of the re-capitalization policy of all the airlines operating in the country, has led to the establishment of bigger, stronger airliners with a larger capital and asset base and phased out the era of “one owner, one pilot, one plane” airliners which were virtually operating as flying coffins in Nigeria, creating sustainable air safety of Nigerian carriers, consolidation and formidability which establishes a better position for them to honour all their obligations and insurance claims, and granting access for the exclusive utilization of the much needed BASA Fund (Bi-lateral Air Services Agreement Fund) lodged at the CBN which runs into billions of Naira.
He has launched several airport projects and performed a series of ground-breaking ceremonies, including that of the Abia Airport Project in Nsulu, Isialangwa North LGA. Keyamo also restored the two-year moribund TRACON project (Total Radar Coverage) for the whole country, through the involvement of Thales of France Company, and procurement of the original system, granting full radar coverage for the country with enhanced defence capabilities and safety, ensuring that planes no longer disappear without a trace.
Keyamo’s astuteness led to the concession of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport, Abuja and the Aminu Kano International, Kano Airport by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and the re-activation of a 150km range radar coverage for Lagos and Abuja. He also installed the “Ground Proximity Warning System” (GPWS) in every plane that flies into the Nigerian airspace to enhance safety.
Keyamo attributes of not suffering fools lightly, has distinguished him as a man of honour and discipline thereby enhancing his milestone achievements and signature performances. A tremendous life-giver, causing dry bones to rise, he has woken up everything once killed by his predecessors.
