Nigeria has lost the West African air market to Ghana as today no Nigerian airline is operating to destinations such as Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Freetown, Monrovia and the Gambia.
Along with the loss of these air travel market are also businesses that were dominated by Nigerians but today, with the influx of Chinese into retail trade in the West Coast and the entrance of South African investors, Nigeria has lost huge market in the sub-region. “Today Ghana has regional capacity but Nigeria has none. There used to be when Nigeria dominated the air travel market in West Africa. Nigeria can rebuild the market because Nigerians travel a lot.
With the economic downturn, Nigerian industry observers argued that the country might not play a major role in the African Continental Free Trade Area , which enables all African countries, except Eritrea, to trade under a single market. But Uko noted that there was no correlation between hosting the AfCFTA and having economic dominance, which Nigeria has the capacity to do, considering the fact that Nigeria still has the highest number of air travellers in the sub-region and also is still the biggest economy in Africa.
“Accra airport traffic is 50 percent Nigerian, 30 percent other West African countries, and 20 per cent Ghanaian destinations. If Nigerian aviation authorities create flexible and easy conditions for international flights, Accra airport will be starved,” Akpan said.
Another Buhari success story!