get latest news from West Africa

The Group Managing Director of Finchglow Holdings, Mr. Bankole Bernard, has said the Nigerian aviation industry needs reliable data that will help the industry to plan, attract investors and determine the growth of the sector. He however expressed scepticism on the authenticity of existing data, saying that they do not capture the real number of people that travel. Chinedu Eze brings the excerpts:
Nigeria seems to be recording very low annual increase in passenger traffic, compared to other developing countries. Why is it so?
Well, first of all, it is difficult for us to establish the fact that we are not growing. And why it is difficult to establish the fact that we are not growing is that we do not have reliable data? Any organization or country that pays little
or no attention to data collection is not willing to grow because data is what will help you determine whether you are growing, at what percentage you are growing, and help you to forecast and do projections for the future.
But unfortunately, the government has paid little or no attention to that. And I have said it in my previous interview, until the government comes to their senses, when they will pay attention to creating a data center, that is when we are in for business. There is a lot happening around the globe. Aviation is not
what it used to be. A lot has changed. Has the Nigerian government or the industry even spoken about lack of aircrafts in the aviation industry globally? I hope you know that there is scarcity of aircraft. Why can't we hold ourselves accountable? We are telling the airlines, we want to see that you are economically viable, so submit your financials to us when we are doing your papers. Who holds the parastatals accountable? Do we know how much FAAN (Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria) is generating on a daily basis? Do we know how much they are bringing on a monthly basis?
How do we not estimate that, okay, this is the forecast?
I will say something to you. There is a nation that is growing astronomically in
Africa. It is Morocco. They don’t have a population. They are very rich in agriculture. Their airline is the fastest growing in Africa. Now go and check the
records. At every point in time, they are growing their tourism. Significantly, they came to Nigeria to take a lot of Nigerian travel agencies to Morocco. They do daily flights and it is always full to capacity. The question is, what did they do? They used data to position themselves and they have been able to grow their country. Their airline is doing very well. They are growing tourism simply because these people did not joke with data. They will give you the figures.
The facts and figures are with them. What have we done with our? They are selling beyond Casablanca. Casablanca, Marrakesh, there is a place called Fez.
They are selling all these places, which means that for every time a dollar moves into them, it is developing their country. For every time, a dollar is leaving your country to go, you are losing out. What are we doing? How well
are we promoting and positioning our flag carriers? I think it is high time we woke up and tell ourselves the truth. Are we here for serious business or we are just here to pay lip service? If it’s about lip service, then let’s continue like this. There is nothing wrong. But if we want to change the narrative, then we need to start speaking the truth. And the truth is what data do we have? Why can’t those data be made public? Is anything wrong in it? How many passengers? Who is the target? If you ask FAAN to give you the data of passengers, it will be different from what NCAA (Nigeria Civil Aviation
Authority) will give you. NCAA’s figure will be different from what NAMA
(Nigerian Airspace Management Agency) will give you. Why should it be like that? Because it will reveal a lot of things. So, they would rather not do it. If you are really going to do anything in this industry, we have to start by paying a lot of attention to data.
Is it that Nigeria does not have data or there are no verifiable data?
What you consider as data is that you have a central point where you have all this data and you filter it and you present it. You should reflect the reality. Not just picking data here and then and just go add up to anything. That is the greatest challenge. If the data that is being gotten from the same industry differs from the one from NCAA, differs from the one from FAAN, that is a fundamental problem. It is a fundamental problem. And only one body can make that happen. Ministry of Aviation. Why can’t we create a data unit?
Why? Because as I am running this organization, I have a data officer. I comply with data. If I don’t comply with data, the federal government will fine me.
Why can’t government tell them to comply? Oh, because they are government. So that is where the issues are. That is where the issues are. Nobody holds anybody accountable. So, whatever they do is right.
But do you think the number of passengers that travel to international destinations from Nigeria is growing?
Yes, the number of people who travel overseas is growing; why should
domestic travellers not grow? Because you would rather go by air than to go by road. Because that ransom you pay when you are kidnapped is higher than the airfare. So, I don’t understand; what are they saying to us?
But the airfare is very high. And I think that has shrunk the markets?
It did not shrink any market. It did not shrink any markets. And let me tell you, more airlines are still queuing up to get their AOCs (Air Operator Certificate).
You don't understand. We have the markets. We are just not being fed with the right information and the right figures.
Is this intentional?
It is intentional to the best of my knowledge.
Why do you think it is intentional?
Just to discourage the serious-minded people from coming to the industry and just to keep the government’s eyes away from what they are doing. Let’s take
for instance, we are in the same country where JAMB as a body has been declaring small, small amounts of revenue. Then one man got there and we started seeing billions of Naira in revenue. In that situation, what changed?
Sincerity came in. This is the right man for the job. You think somebody like me will get into aviation, at the helm of affairs and I will not double the income for the government? Are you kidding me? You don’t want to know the amount of money that is in aviation. You don’t want to know.
So, until we begin to bring the right people to be at the helm of affairs, things
will never change. And it is a capacity issue. Like I always tell my people, capacity must match responsibility. If the capacity is not there, they won’t expect so much. And that is what we see around us. So, we have to change the narrative. Let us start to push the right personnel to be able to handle certain portfolios. And things will change.
So, the idea of you saying that there is a reduction in passenger is just mere hear say. I don’t believe that we had a reduction in passengers because the population of Nigeria keeps growing. About 236 million is not small figures.
And we keep growing. And we keep running with the impression that the flying public, they are not growing. Have you gone to the embassies to even go and get their data? It is astronomical. They will tell you the airline, they are just taking their data. The embassies and the air commission are making a kill from Nigeria, wanting to travel. And guess what? They are still meeting up with the quota system. And some are still traveling. So, what are we talking about? I think it is high time that we get serious as a nation.
Looking at the airfare on international routes, would you say that they are still high compared to the past?
Well, I would say that I don’t think there has been an astronomical increase in airfare. No, it is not astronomical. It is just that our currency has become weaker. So, what you would have spent N1000 on before, now you would spend N100,000. That is what is happening. Because airfare used to be at a very low, which was CBN rate. But all of us have moved to a central exchange rate. So, the rate of exchange for tickets is not standard anymore. What you use today is different from tomorrow. So, the issue of block funds has disappeared. Gracious, thank God, somebody was thinking enough to come with a policy that supports that. Not only that, even the airlines now can plan.
So, they are not worried that anybody is holding on to their money. They can
plan effectively and that has helped them to say we could invest more. Now,
the question you as a journalist should ask yourselves is this, why will British
Airways go to South Africa and establish a regional flight there? And here,
there is no such regional flights. Does that stop the domestic carriers from
competing? It means that they could synergize, they could collaborate.
But we have not created that environment that can make it possible; you are not going to compel people. And this idea of telling people serve Nigerian local food, no. It should be a choice thing. Government should not get involved in business decisions. It is wrong. Create the enabling environment for these businesses to thrive and they will yield to the demands of the markets.
Nigerian traveller wants pepper soup. By the time they see the demand, they will dance to it. But don’t say, you must serve the water in Nigeria. No. You are compelling them, it is not right. It does not make business sense. So, Nigerian government must know where their power lies. You are a regulator, stay put as a regulator. And what is the work of a regulator? You are creating an enabling environment for business to try. Simple. So, the question you constantly be asking yourself is how do I, how do I create such conducive investment environment? Will my landing fees be competitive within my region? There are certain things we just need to do as a nation through the government. When we pay attention to those things, things become a lot better for us. And we/re able to make progress.
Looking at our deteriorating facilities at the airports, do you think
concessioning of airports will actually bring out the best from them?
You see, they say once beaten twice shy. When we are talking about
concessioning of the airports, we have to look historically. The concession we
have done in the past, what is the outcome? Is there any legal implication to
it? Because as it is, I know that there is still legal battle between the federal
government and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited on the concession that was granted. So, you are not seeing me as an international financier, I want to come to that environment. So, all this we are talking about, airport concessioning, I think we are just playing to the gallery. There should be a show of sincerity and commitment, so that government will be taken seriously. Immediate past government spoke about concession. Eight years, paid and then gone. This government too is talking about concession.
In the next few weeks, it will be two years. The next two years, don’t talk about concession because it is election we will be talking about.
You spoke about Morocco inviting travelling agents to come and see what they have and experience them. Now, do you think our travel agents are also selling local destinations?
Well, the first thing first is this. If you are going to sell a local destination, you
do it in conjunction or partnership with airlines. So basically, the airlines will
position themselves as ambassadors to those other destinations to be able to
woo people into your country. Excuse me, do we have any of that? The answer
is no.
Is Air Peace interested in bringing foreign travel agencies to come and
see Nigeria? Or what benefit is that to them?
Other than Nigerian tourism and tourism industry, going into partnership with Air Peace to say we want to bring these people down here and we want to showcase what we have; so that more people can come into this country. It is business for Air peace, it is business for the government, it is business for everybody. But nobody is taking that initiative. How do you think that sector will grow? For those that are serious-minded, they know what to do. They are taking Nigerians. And
Nigerians are going there. And for every Nigerian that is going there, they probably put like a budget, an average of one thousand dollars. You pay, you won’t sleep on the streets, hotel, transportation, shopping, you prepare all those. That one thousand dollars has a value it will add to their bottom line in the economy. So, you are taking money from your economy into their own economy. So, the problem is with us.
Do you think we are now inclined to travel to African destinations compared to the past?
I would tell you for your fans that the Dubai visa restriction became an eye- opener for a lot of Nigerians to explore other African countries. And in exploring other African countries, they have seen that, what am I looking for in Europe? Because some of these African countries, they have what it takes. If you go to Cape Town, you will not even know that you are in Africa. There are places you go in Morocco that you will not even know that you are in Africa because they have developed their country and they have created some international standard. There is nothing stopping us from having such, but we choose what is important to us and what is important to us is other things, other than creating an environment that people can see and appreciate.
Detty December will continue to grow. And I will tell you why. As far as they are concerned, our currency rate remains very weak. And we are fun loving people, so it is very easy for anybody to come here and spend their Christmas and really enjoy. Because when you are talking about Detty December, it is about going to a place where you will have fun. It is like me saying I am going to Rio, Brazil. Because of the Rio Carnival, that is why I am going. So, they know
that in December everywhere in Lagos is going to be fun. They will come. If you change $1000, that is N1.6 million. Tell me how you will not enjoy yourself? In two weeks, you would have had a fantastic holiday and you go back. Now, the question is this, as a nation, are we prepared for such? Are we? The opportunities are there but we are not ready.
Take for instance, at Ogun State, that is sharing border with Lagos State, are they even taking advantage of the opportunity of being next to Lagos? Do you know that you can live in Ijebu Ode and come to Lagos to work? It is 45 minutes if the road is good. Because there are people working in DC and they live in Maryland in the US and they do that every day. So, what are we talking about? Did the governor pay attention to say, developers, I will give you land
zero to nothing, create an estate and you will see things that will happen. But nobody is doing anything. We are not interested. We are too self-fish, just thinking about ourselves alone. Until that mentality changes, we are going nowhere.