High aviation fuel, forex scarcity militating growth of domestic airlines – Akporiaye
Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, the President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), in this interview with OLUSEGUN KOIKI, speaks on the forthcoming 46th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association scheduled to hold in Kano State, why she’s seeking re-election and the challenges facing the airline sub-sector among others. Excerpts:
The Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) is scheduled to hold in Kano later this month and you are seeking a re-election, why do you think you deserve a second term?
When I was elected as the President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) two years ago, I came up with four agenda for the association. Some of the agenda then, included unification of all the zones under NANTA irrespective of the zone. I also promised to open up income opportunities for our members.
I felt that instead of our members to continue to depend on ticket sales alone, we should have another means through, which we can generate revenues for ourselves. On this, we have been able to get the Emir of Kano’s approval to make NANTA the official promoter of Durbar festival.
It is huge and that is not for the association, but for our members.
Also, I have promised members that I will open up more synergy and partnerships that will increase their income. Some of these partnerships included the Senegal Tourism Board who we are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with very soon. Our intent is to open up that destination for tourists and tourism.
Besides, Egypt as a country has given NANTA the mandate to process tourist visas for those who are willing to travel to that country for tourism. When we had the lockdown in 2022, NANTA as a body preached to our members to look inward; towards Africa.
We began to promote Africa agenda. So, because of this, the consular of Egypt Embassy in Nigeria, contacted us to make the job easy and process tourism visas for travellers. This allows our members to do more packages and you don’t have to follow through the process of three to four months as a traveller.
We have the checklist given to us by the embassy and we do our checks and by the time it gets to the embassy, they will only send it to immigration in Cairo, Egypt. They don’t have to check it again. It is a big deal for us because we also need to protect our integrity and name.
I can assure you that there won’t be any compromise on our part on this. We will do our job diligently and protect the integrity of the association and the industry in Nigeria. Also, we are working on NANTA Training School, which when it is approved by the appropriate bodies, it will go a long way to project our name. I want to believe that my four point agenda have been met with extras. I just decided to mention the major ones. I have been able to give to members what I promised.
We have built a very strong relationship with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) over the years and NCAA for the first time through my advocacy, approved an industry compliant committee where all major industry stakeholders, including the Global Distribution System (GDS), airlines and NANTA representatives with the regulatory body as an umpire will discuss and address all the issues affecting the travel sector. All of these point to one thing – the need to protect our members and industry.
In the past one month, the price of Aviation Fuel has continued to climb in the local market, what do you have to say on this?
Life generally is full of ups and downs, the aviation industry has been hit so badly from COVID-19 pandemic and foreign exchange, which is yet to be resolved. Now, we are talking of aviation fuel. We just have the right attitude that this will pass over us again. We had this forex challenge in 2018 that it was so bad that the airlines were just selling full fares and it was a bit down for everyone and only official travels were the major things happening then as people could not travel.
Now in Nigeria, some airlines have removed low fares from the market because they can’t afford to be buying from the black market and selling the lowest fares. I see it as a crisis in life in which we need to remain strong and of course, it will affect us a bit. You are talking of minimum of N50, 000 on local ticket and N100, 000 for a round trip, yet, our roads are not safe.
We have fought the forex challenge severally through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which said the money was there and directed the airlines to go to their banks. But, when you get to the banks, the banks will tell you different thing entirely. Something is wrong somewhere. As industry people, we can only pray for better days.
On the alleged price fixing and the intervention of Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), I want to say it here that if it is proven that the airlines fixed price among themselves, it is anti-competition law.
The law says there should be competition and when there is competition, the benefits go to the public. What the local airlines are doing is anti-competition. As it is now, passengers don’t have a choice.
However, I believe it is just for a while because they can’t maintain it; they will fly empty.
How has the recent hike in airfares affected your business?
The passengers are not happy with the situation. However, travelling by air is a necessity and it is the safest form of travelling.
The passengers are grumbling no doubt and they are buying the tickets with much pain. They are still buying the tickets and you know the Nigeria population is so high and Nigerians will always fly. For a lot of people, there is nothing they can do about it.
You can’t make all the profits in just one trip. The aviation fuel, the international airlines still use it and they have not increased their fares.
I was speaking with an international airline representative in Nigeria recently and he said even if there is going to be an increase, it should be according to your capacity. What is your stake in it? Everybody’s capacity is not the same and it should be gradually. How can you attempt to make all the profits in one ticket because fuel has gone up? They should look at their capacity and re-evaluate.
