Mahamat, who was represented by Dr. Amani Abu-Zeid, the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy in AUC, noted that liberalization of the African skies would boost socio-economic development.<\/span><\/p>\n

He, therefore, called for the implementation of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) adopted during the Assembly of Heads of States held in Lome, Togo in July 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to him, the goal of the YD is to strengthen safety and security oversight on the continent as well as promote a climate of cooperation among African carriers through partnerships, mergers, and consortiums.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mahamat who revealed that aviation contributes 73 billion dollars to Africa\u2019s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and creates seven million jobs on the continent, also noted that only 23 African countries, including Nigeria, had shown commitment to the implementation of the YD, and urged others yet to do so to come on board.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr.\u00a0Mahamat said this was less than three percent of the 63.5 million jobs and 2.7 trillion dollars aviation contributed to the global economy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact of enhanced connectivity extends beyond those to passengers. \u201cThe increased air service levels will stimulate employment in the aviation industry to handle passengers and their baggage and to operate service and maintain aircraft.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLiberalisation could facilitate many other sectors of the economy by supporting increased trade, attracting new business to the region, encouraging investment and enhancing productivity and competitiveness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier, Sen. Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State for Aviation said Nigeria as a signatory to YD was committed to SAATM.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sirika noted that it was unacceptable that 80 percent of carriers operating in Africa were from outside the continent. He said the theme of the forum was apt, considering the infrastructure deficit facing the aviation sector not only in <\/span>Nigeria but in most part of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the Nigeria Integrated infrastructure Masterplan (NllMP), 775billion dollars is required to develop Nigeria\u2019s transportation infrastructure over the next 30 years,\u2019\u2019 Sirika said. He said the Nigerian government in collaboration with relevant stakeholders had developed a roadmap that would transform the aviation sector in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sirika said it included safety and security infrastructure strengthening, the concession of airports (starting with Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt) and the establishment of a national carrier to be driven by the private sector. He said it also included the establishment of Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) centre, an Aviation Leasing Company and an Aviation\/Aeronautical University.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIn executing the roadmap which is private sector-led through Public Private Partnership (PPP), the government has engaged internationally reputable Transaction Advisers for the various components.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is in accordance with the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Act of 2007 and also in line with global best practices. These advisers have since commenced work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI urge you to consider the opportunity Nigeria offers and invest in our roadmap and I assure you that its implementation will be transparently done in accordance with global best practices,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abuja\u00a0– The African Union Commission (AUC) says it will inaugurate the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) in January 2018 to increase connectivity within the continent. The AU Chairperson, Mr. Moussa Mahamat made this known at the opening of the Third International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) World Aviation Forum (IWAF) on Tuesday in Abuja. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,47],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7123,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7117\/revisions\/7123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}