ASKY CEO, ahares insights on Nigerian aviation challenges
Part 2 of the interview with the CEO ASKY Esayas WoldeMariam Hailu
In aviation, you are seen as one of the Nigerian specialists. How do you describe the Nigerian aviation environment in your own view as an observer?
It is a very big aviation market by the share, by the mobility, the people are very much travellers in Nigeria. In Nigeria it is good to have a well-functioning domestic and international Nigerian companies. But the aviation ecosystem in Nigeria, the way I look at it, it is a little bit formidable and difficult for the Nigerian authorities. So my advice and my appeal for the Nigerian lawmakers is that they need to enable the operators in Nigeria to be able to thrive. Because the market is so big for the international and domestic operators.
There is no shortage of market but the government should enable the Nigerian operators by way of good regulation that would create the enabling environment, by way of making them to thrive. Making the law, so that they can help them develop the aviation infrastructure, making the law to be very conducive for the local operators, so that they can grow up to the task and cover the region and the continent.
So this is my appeal. Otherwise, there are a lot of people who are really interested to make aviation to work in Nigeria. And also the market is so in demand and saturated and there are a lot of operators in the sector. So my appeal to the Nigerian government is to enable them and push them to grow. That is my simple advice. Of course the whole aviation ecosystem needs to be built to be an enabling environment for aviation.
What is your high point as CEO of Asky?
Well, the singular high point I have in mind is Africa needs aviation proficiency. People talk about brian drain from Africa to the developed world, but when it comes to aviation, Africa does not have the trained aviation expertise to drain. So, Africa needs to train a lot of aviation experts.
This is a highly skilled intensive industry which requires license, modulated license and other things. So, the high point is Asky should be bent on developing aviation in the region by way of training aviation professionals. This needs to be done in every country in Africa to train aviation professionals. The more aviation professionals we have, we can help aviation to grow in the continent.
