The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, has called for the review of the proposal for an aviation development bank.
Keyamo said that the review was necessary in order to explore the possibility of establishing a structural financial system for the industry, which would further increase revenue generation for the sector in Nigeria.
He further emphasised that the review would help in tackling the funding aviation development programmes, while also promoting economic growth for the industry in particular and the nation as a whole.
Keyamo, reiterated that the current government placed revenue growth and optimisation of resources at the forefront of its agenda and directed a team of aviation experts and economists to explore funding options for the industry.
The team was also tasked with assessing the potential for an aviation and aerospace development bank – an institutional solution, which he insisted would provide a well-structured aviation development investment and financing system to address the industry’s unique risks under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.
“The aim is to attract low-interest funds from the global fund market and accelerate all-inclusive development in the sector,” he said.
Members of the committee include Mr. Muhammed Shehu, Mr. Samuel Bajomo, Special Adviser to the minister on Foreign Direct Investment and Capital Improvement Programme, Mr. Fortune Idu; Chief Executive Officer (CEO) FCIINT, Mr. Yenusa Abudsalam and Prof. Ken Ife, Chief Finance Banking Technical Consultant.
The meeting was occasioned by Idu’s call for a well-structured financial system for aviation.
Idu had suggested the creation of a sector-specific bank in the absence of a credible financial warehouse for the sector.
Idu had earlier emphasised that the aviation sector had been completely isolated from Nigeria’s infrastructure investment banking and support services, maintaining that something drastic was needed to be done to improve access to funding for aviation projects.
According to him, existing banks were not supporting aviation, positing that the industry would need to set up its own system.
Idu asserted that aviation development had to be consistent, sustainable and required a stable financial outlook for more investment to come in globally.
In his response to the explanation of the technical implementation of setting up a sectorial bank, Prof. Keneth Ife, the Lead Subject Matter expert at the meeting, acknowledged the urgent need to address this issue based on the importance of aviation and another transport sector the economy.
Source: independent.ng