AS part of efforts to estab-
lish an effective air cargo
sector, the aviacargo team
set up by the Federal Air-
ports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN) went on another
fact-finding visit to Kotoka
International Airport cargo
facilities. The team was led
by the Director of Commer-
cial and Business Develop-
ment of FAAN, Olumyiwa
Femi-Pearse.
Nigeria is currently ranked number five in Af-
rica in aviacargo business
behind Kenya, Egypt, South
Africa and Ethiopia, as it
has been reported that the
country receives over 10
fully loaded freighters week-
ly and most leave empty. To
address this, FAAN set up an
Aviacargo Roadmap Com-
mittee with Ikechi Uko as
the coordinator of the proj-
ect.
During the visit to Accra, they were taken to Aviance
Cargo, the oldest special
purpose cargo terminal in
Ghana for a tour. They also
visited the Swissport Ter-
minal where they engaged
with government agencies
and some stakeholders.
They then visited the Ni-
gerian Embassy where the
High Commissioner Ibok-
Ete Ibas urged that the re-
port and their findings are
implemented. “Nigeria is now learning from people
who had earlier learnt from
us. We should show more
patriotism to restore Nige-
ria to its rightful position in
the world,” he said.
The team rounded off the
tour with an engagement
with the Ghana Export Pro-
motion Agency, where they
were received by the Deputy
CEO, Albert Kassim Diwu-
ra. After the engagement,
Mr. Uko thanked the government of Ghana for the
reception of the team and
wondered why both coun-
tries are not working closer
together.
“I observed that Ghana
imports eggs from Belgium
to hatch for day old chicks,
while eggs are rotting away
in North Central Nigeria.
Why is Ghana importing
mangos from Brazil to pro-
duce fruit juice for export?
Why is Nigeria importing chocolate from Europe
when Ghana can supply all
we need? If Ghana is good at
exporting yam, can we sup-
ply more yams to Ghana for
increased exports? These
will grow the two econo-
mies,” he said.
The team had earlier vis-
ited the airports at Nairobi,
Kenya and Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia They have also vis-
ited three airports in Nige-
ria; Jos, Lafia and Abuja.
