The federal government has thrown its weight behind the proposed Fly Nigeria Act, a legislative move designed to bolster the country’s domestic aviation sector by prioritising local airlines for government-funded air travel.
Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, made the announcement in Abuja during a stakeholders’ engagement on the proposal on Friday, BusinessDay reports.
He emphasised that the Act would create a fair playing ground for Nigerian airlines and curb what he described as a global conspiracy against the growth of the African aviation industry.
According to Keyamo, the Fly Nigeria Act will mandate that all air transportation funded by the government, including trips by government officials, contractors, grantees, and government properties, be carried out using Nigerian flag carriers.
He likened the initiative to the Cabotage Act, which supports indigenous operators in the marine sector and highlighted the urgent need to protect Nigeria’s aviation market from external dominance.
“If the Cabotage Act could be passed in favour of Nigerian ship owners, why not for aviation? That means there are certain external cabals in the aviation industry that seek to destroy the indigenous market so they can feed on that market.
“It is a global conspiracy, and you have to be smart to see it. If you look at the entire African continent, all the foreign airlines in the world feed on the African market without fair competition from African airlines, and they will ensure the African aviation market remains stunted so that they can keep feeding on it.
“But it’s important we develop our own to compete fairly. So, there is a global conspiracy in the aviation sector all over the world, and it’s such that they don’t want local airlines to grow so they can keep feeding on it.”
