Aviation Working Group Removes Nigeria from Watchlist, Increases Her Rating to 75.5%

Chinedu Eze

Nigeria has recorded a big achievement in the aviation industry, as Aviation Working Group (AWG) has removed the country from the watchlist and increased its rating to 75.5 per cent.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, in Lagos yesterday during the commissioning of Juhi-2 aviation fuel depot at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, (MMIA), Lagos.

Aviation Working Group (AWG) is a not-for-profit legal entity comprised of major aviation manufacturers, leasing companies and financial institutions that contribute to the development of policies, laws and regulations that facilitate advanced international aviation financing and leasing.

Removing Nigeria from watchlist means that Nigeria will no more be designated as high-country risk, which indicates that Nigerian carriers can now acquire aircraft on dry lease without extraordinary costs levelled on the country identified as high-risk nations.

These achievements followed the significant efforts made by the Minister of Aviation, who in line with the Tinubu administration’s policy, decided to remove all obstacles preventing domestic airlines from long-term leasing of aircraft, known as dry lease.

This significant move led to the signing of the Cape Town Convention Practice Direction by the federal government, which shot up the country’s rating from 49 per cent to 70.5 per cent by AWG last month.

Throwing more light of this significant achievement, the Minister told journalists that what has been achieved is the birth of a baby after a period of gestation, which involved hard work and commitment that took him to different countries to interface with global influencers in aviation and at home to meet the requirements set out to lift the country.

The latest was the signing of the Irrevocable De-Registration and Export Request Authorization (IDERA), which will enable government to support a lessor taking his aircraft out of the country when there is infringement in the conditions of leasing the aircraft to a Nigerian carrier.

Reacting to this achievement, the Minister said, “It is a major eye-opener; it is also market-opener for the aviation sector, especially the Nigerian aviation sector around the world.

“Nigerian airlines can now go global and access the world of aircraft financing and aircraft leasing. We were actually on a blacklist before.

“At 49.5 rating, it was a non-compliant figure. We were on that belt before. We moved up to 70.5, which was a compliant belt, but still on the watch list.

“But now we’re 75.5, we are completely off the watch list. And the Aviation Working Group, co-chaired by Boeing and Airbus, said this is a high score. They termed it a high score for the country, and it matches the score that you see that most of the big nations in the world have, which enable them to access these opportunities. We shall have that type of assets now; I can assure you.”

The Minister said that what the federal government did differently to achieve this is the political will; the determination to make Nigerian airlines major players in air transport in Africa and beyond.

According to the Minister, “I think it is the political will; the encouragement by Mr. President, the focus we have. Mr. President gave us the right direction, what to do, how to go and set the policies there.

“This request, I can tell you, has been on the ground for more than 10 years, and nobody attended to it. They thought it was something that they did not need to bother about.

“And that was why there was a policy shift in the past in Nigeria, which is to rather access other bigger countries to just come and help us, you know, take over our aviation ecosystem, to say, look, we can do it. And that was a solemn resignation to the fact that we can’t do it. But this policy shift is that we can do it.”

He said that with determination a lot could be achieved, looking at what others have also achieved; that, he noted, should stir the country to aspire to achieve more.

“We have actually arrived at our destination in terms of aircraft leasing. The gestation period will come where they will have to negotiate deals, get aircraft into the country. We are the watchdog. We must ensure that these aircraft are protected by the practice direction and the IDERA we have signed.

“Whoever defaults, we take the aircraft out.  Once we begin to do that, you will have new aircraft, ability to service more routes. Now you can see most routes are not serviced in Nigeria in terms of airports, both locally, internationally and regionally. We can service these routes.

“It will also lead to competitive pricing. Prices will come down because more competition will bring down prices. Now we have a near monopoly really on domestic and international routes where prices are just shooting up anyhow,” the Minister said.

Keyamo acknowledged that Nigerian carriers are ready to key into these opportunities facilitated by the federal government, saying that lessors and financiers are already waiting to go into business with Nigerian airlines.

“I have taken them (the airlines) around the world.  I go around the world to negotiate these deals with them and guess what? After complying with all of this, we have our first major invitation to Ireland, 12th to 15th of January.

“I am going to be there with all of them. We are going to meet the major resource and aircraft financiers. They are waiting for us in Ireland. It’s a major world conference and Nigeria has been officially invited to come and begin to talk with them,” the Minister said.