Ken Okeke
Minister of Aviation, Mr. Festus Keyamo has appealed to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to support efforts of the country to fully achieve its civil aviation master plan and airport development programmes.
The Minister made the appeal during a familiarisation visit to the ICAO Headquarters in Montreal Canada.
The Minister on behalf of the continent of Africa also mentioned the important role of air connectivity which he said ICAO should continue its support on the actualisation of other safety development-related matters.
On hand to receive the Minister was the ICAO Council President, Mr. Salvatore Sciacchitano, the Secretary-General, Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, and Nigeria’s Representative on the ICAO Council, Engr. Ben Tukur; while the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu accompanied the Minister on the visit.
Africa has the lowest air connectivity in the world. Among the 1,431 pairs of African Union countries, just 19 per cent had significant direct service (at least once a week annually). Out of these, 35 per cent had daily or more frequent service, while only 13 per cent had service twice daily or more.
The Yamoussoukro Decision was adopted in 1999 to rule out stringent regulatory restrictions within Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs) among African countries which are detrimental to intra-African connectivity and the development of the African aviation sector.