“Nigerians are not seeing improvement expected at our airports”

Could travel within West Africa ever be seamless

Well, I believe is realistic, I believe there is need for a paradigm shift, having spoken with Carmen Nibigira that came from East Africa and what they have been able to achieve with six countries, there were no entry barriers, they are doing things seamlessly. And here we are that had ECOWAS before them which facilitates free movement of goods and services as well as passengers and we are still having difficulties. It just has to do with the orientation of our people and the culture they imbibe in themselves and from what we have learnt here today, this initiative is now becoming that of a private sector. If private sector does not drive it, it cannot move forward. From the look of things, the private sector needs to take upon themselves to change the outlook of things in West Africa and when the government see the way is being done, the government can come and embrace it. Based on all the things the coordinator of the East African Tourism Platform, Carmen had mentioned to us, the government can embrace it.

Ways forward for seamless travel in West Africa

That is why in my mind already, am proposing a West African Travel board where we are going to have journalists as part of the team, people from the private and public sector so that we can decide how we are going to make travelling between West Africa something that is comfortable for all. When you said some airlines are cutting their flights from Nigeria to Accra like from six to two, I believe is their capacity, May be they have realised that they could not meet up or they are having some financial burden, that is why they are reducing, not because is not a viable route. But as at today, even moving by road, time will be wasted and the roads are bad. It took us forty minutes to get here from Lagos to Accra. I have come today and am going today, can I try that if am going by road, off course not. So air transport remains the most viable, convenient and safe way of moving even across West Africa that we find ourselves. We have to start the engagements, we are going to be talking with our Ghanaian counterparts to make them understand how we are going to make this thing seamless.
Once the government see what we are doing, and can see sense in what we are doing, trust me they will be more than glad to partner with us or to say it looks like you people have solution to our problem. I earlier said today that passing through Nigerian airports is always a nightmare, am sure we have all witnessed it, we are never happy when we say we want to travel, because we will quickly scale that hurdle and move into the aircraft just because we want to get out. And it should not be like that because the airport should be a place we should relax, but they have turned our airports to shops where you have kiosk, even at that they are not even professionals, the shops are not properly done, there is no cut out on what the design of the shops will be, things are being done haphazardly and we in the private sector are the one that has to change the culture of the government. If the government is not going to do it, let us do it for our selves. We have seen the way is done in other countries. I see no reason we cannot do it, if things have been done in a manual way, technology has come, so why can’t we embrace technology. We have the resources, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is making money from the passengers because from every passenger, their taxes are paid. What are they doing with this money, Nigerians are not seeing the sort of improvement that is expected at our airports . I think is high time the government start putting round pegs in round holes, because they are not putting round pegs in round hole, that is why we are having all these issues

Government policies and support for the industry?

I said it in my previous interviews that government cannot continue giving us bad policies and as long as we continue to have bad policies, it will affect all of us and that is what we are saying. Look at the show that we came here for today, it was organised by a Nigerian, did you see the atmosphere, you saw the way they welcomed him, if is in our country, somebody will start to detect and ask who is he and where is he coming from, we need to put all those things behind us and get the right man for the job, let him do it and I don’t see any government that is backing Ikechi Uko here. And if Ikechi can pull this kind of stunts here, some of us need to go back home and start adopting private initiatives in some of the things that we are doing. But let us do things and let the government see that yes this is the way things need to be done. I came into Ghana and did not see touts here and nobody is asking you about your luggage tag and all those thing, I mean we have moved beyond all that and it has to be stopped. We need to make the country be the big brother of West Africa, we are the biggest in West Africa, so let us live up to that expectations. They say we are the largest economy in West Africa, is not showing in the life style of our people. So I feel that for us to achieve that seamless travel in West Africa, it has to take a private initiative to be able to achieve that.

Don’t you think that the onus lies on the private sector to be vibrant

I quite agree with you that the private sector has not really shown serious commitment in driving business like it should be, that was why I took it upon myself to come into NANTA. Naturally when people like us get to the level where we find ourselves, they rather want to face their business and not make sacrifice and I believe that when you have the opportunity to make this kind of sacrifice, I think is a great privilege for you to showcase what you have and turn around the industry you have found yourself. Yes I can say to you that ever since I came into office, you have started seeing changes in NANTA, we have started creating awareness around NANTA, we are restructuring the out-look of NANTA, we are repositioning NANTA and I believe that other association that are travel related, the tourism association, the tour operators association, will key into it when the look at the way we have been able to position our house, they will start to tidy up their house. One thing I took out of this place is that am not going to let the initiative of what I have heard today to die off, am going to get back and take it upon myself, if possible, I will raise fund and go to our Immigration that we need to start training our people on customer service because that is the entry point, once they are well-trained and we have the right personnel there, we are the same people who will promote them. And this is the opportunity for the press to assist as well, we have to constantly speak well of our nation, our industry, of our people, the positive things, then the positive vibes which we are passing will rob off on every one.Then we will see the improvement on the side of the economy we are looking for and for me, that is the whole Idea, let me do what is expected of me and see if the man next to me will not copy or do the same.

Collaboration with Nigerian Tour Operators (NATOP)

Personal interest has frustrated the way things are done in our country. The thing am happy with is that NANTA and NATOP have started engaging, we are closing up gaps and very soon we are going to be signing a Memorandum of Understanding, (MOU) and let the rest of the world to be aware that we are working together, that whatever that is affecting NANTA is affecting NATOP and whatever is going to affect NATOP is going to affect NANTA. I think we are the two strongest body responsible for travel and tourism in Nigeria. I believe that is the right step in the right direction, once we have that, others will conform. They would not have a choice, when you want people to sacrifice, they would not have a choice, when you want people to sacrifice, they must see it in you that you are sacrificing and that is exactly what I have seen and that is what NATOP has seen and believed that is okay we can work together. I believe that with the new initiative of us engaging ourselves and wanting to work together, we will achieve it. I know we must put our house in order before we can now say we are talking to outsiders. Yes we are going to be working on it together, not separately, because I will constantly get him involved and ensure that we have formidable team that want to deliver West Africa.