Last year, Angela Gittens, DG Airports Council International (ACI) said that “In absolute numbers, the strongest growth in the number of passengers was in West Africa, with Nigeria leading the way.”
Break down these numbers and three airports account for most of the traffic. In terms of number of flights and passengers, and routes: domestic and international, passenger traffic is concentrated in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. The trio control the lions share and account for over 80 percent of air travel in Nigeria. Data on passenger air traffic (July 2012 to June 2013), lately made public by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), corroborates this.
In “Nigeria Unveiled”, a 2012 report by Renaissance Capital (RenCap) notes that the states that spend the most on transport are those with the biggest cities and ports, and the highest levels of airport passenger traffic. The airports in the three states that spend the most on transport – Lagos (48 percent), Abuja (28 percent) and Rivers (8 percent) – account for 82 percent of the country’s total airport passenger traffic.
The Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt are respectively the political, commercial and oil and gas capitals of Nigeria. All three are ranked among growing cities that matter in Africa. Abuja and Lagos account for 14 percent of the 82.3 million people estimated to be in the 25 cities. These fast urbanising cities are home to a growing consumer class. They are also attracting businesses within and outside the country.
Between July and December 2012, 7.29 million passengers went through Nigeria’s airports located in 19 cities, according to NBS. One-quarter went through Abuja, 48 percent through Lagos and 8 percent via Port Harcourt. In other words, the three airports accounted for 81 of every 100 passengers for the second half of 2012.
Broken down by domestic flights within the same period, 78 of every 100 passengers used the three airports. Of the 4.9m passengers, 29 percent went through Abuja, 77 percent were huddled through Lagos while 11 percent went through Port Harcourt. Roughly the same number of passengers passed through the trio in 2013, though the numbers reduced for all except Abuja.
For both periods respectively, international passengers accounted for 50 and 40 percent of total passenger traffic in all the airports in Nigeria. Again, for foreigners, Nigerians travelling to school, going abroad or coming home on holidays, medical tourism, business etc Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt were the preferred routes. However, most went through Lagos: 1.7m in 2012 and 1.56m in 2013.
Overall, domestic flights were the busiest with 4.9m between July and December 2012 and 4.7m between January and July 2013. In that sense, Lagos is Nigeria’s busiest domestic airport. In 2012, 1.8m passengers walked through the domestic wing of the Murtala Mohammed airport, the same as the total number of domestic and international passengers that passed through Abuja.
Last year, the world’s busiest routes were mostly domestic and concentrated in Asia, according to Amadeus, a provider of travel software and technology. Measured in origin to destination travelled, of the top ten routes seven were in Asia: South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong and Thailand. The Cape Town to Johannesburg route in South Africa was tenth busiest with 4.47m passengers.
The infrastructure to cater for the burgeoning passenger traffic into Nigeria via Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt is long overdue. Last July, the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China agreed to lend Nigeria $1.1 billion to build roads, airport terminal in four cities. Six airports: Jos, Makurdi, Yola, Jalingo, Lagos and Ilorin, have been designated as perishable cargo facilities because of their proximity to Nigeria’s high potential breadbaskets.
Whether in terms of passengers or cargo, Lagos will get more attention. The ratio of domestic to international passengers is 1, i.e. as many domestic and international passengers pass through Lagos – an indicator of Lagos’ economic heft. It is also points to the potential of being a connecting hub for West and Central Africa. Something similar to what the Middle East airports in Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai have become.
As an air travel hub, the three together serve passengers flying from Asia to Europe and from Europe to the South West Pacific. Though traffic between Asia and Europe is declining, the number of passengers connecting to Europe via Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai has been increasing.
But living and doing business comes at a cost. Lagos ranks among the most expensive cities in Africa and its hotels room rates are among the priciest in the world. Nevertheless, the city remains a lodestone for local and multinational companies looking to expand their business in West Africa.
But it’s still not easy to do business in Nigeria. For obvious reasons companies will be interested in cities where there are good roads, transparent governance, efficient bureaucracy and adequate transportation. Where these are absent the cost of doing business and living are high.
On the whole, sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest economy, touted to become the biggest with a rebased GDP has to prioritise. Rebasing will give a better picture of the economy and new businesses will pay attention. They will flood the market with goods produced with more efficient production techniques outside of Nigeria, ship and fly them through our new ship ports and airports, while our small to medium scale entrepreneurs worry about finance, infrastructure, regular power and water supply, adequate transport, farm inputs, equipment and spares, raw materials, security and the reduction of taxes.
So, what, beyond transformative and progressive appellations, is the economic strategy of both the ruling and opposition political parties – to make Nigeria a de-industrialised consumer country?
By: Tayo Fagbule
