Barrister Festus Keyamo

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF AVIATION AND AEROSPACE DEVELOPMENT AT THE NIGERIA AIRCRAFT ACQUISITION AND INVESTMENT SUMMIT (NAAIS) ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2026 AT THE FEDERAL PALACE HOTEL, LAGOS.

PROTOCOLS

1. It is both an honour and a privilege to address this distinguished gathering at the Nigeria Aircraft Acquisition and Investment Summit here in the beautiful and bustling city of Lagos. We are here not merely to discuss aircraft acquisition as a transactional issue, but to unlock something far more strategic and far more consequential: capital, confidence, and capacity, the three pillars upon which any globally competitive aviation industry must stand.
2. Today, Nigeria comes before the world not with an aspiration alone, but with evidence of reforms and evidence of readiness. Suffice to say that across the global industry, the fundamentals remain compelling. 
3. Airbus’s Global Market Forecast 2024 projects Africa will need about 1,460 new aircraft between 2024 and 2043 to meet rising demand driven by urbanisation and a growing middle class.
4. Meanwhile, Boeing projects that Africa will require 1,205 new aircraft deliveries, with air traffic on the Continent growing at about 6% annually through 2024, and thus driving a demand for 76,000 additional aviation personnel. 
5. These are signals that the centre of gravity of future aviation growth is shifting toward emerging markets, and Nigeria, by scale, geography, population and economic relevance must be one of the principal beneficiaries.  
6. For decades, access to affordable and dependable aircraft financing has remained one of the most significant constraints for Nigerian operators. It has limited fleet renewal, constrained route development, weakened competitiveness, and increased operating costs. 

That is precisely why this administration has treated aircraft financing not as a private challenge for airlines alone, but as a national challenge.

7. Under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, we have taken deliberate steps to de-risk aviation investment in Nigeria. The most consequential of these has been the strengthening of Nigeria’s implementation of the Cape Town Convention and Aircraft Protocol. 

Specifically, on September 12, 2024, Nigeria issued the Federal High Court Cape Town Convention & Aircraft Protocol Practice Direction, 2024 to fully implement this very important treaty on aircraft leasing, thereby enhancing investor confidence in the nation’s aviation sector. And on October 16, 2024, Nigeria went a step further by officially issuing the Irrevocable De-Registration and Export Request Authorisation (IDERA) Advisory Circular, intended to improve deregistration and export-remedy procedures, thus strengthening the legal framework for aircraft leasing and  empowering local airlines to be able to access dry-lease aircraft. It is also aimed at reducing leasing cost and improving global safety ratings.

These reforms matter because capital does not simply chase opportunity; it chases bankable certainty. And, Nigeria has worked to restore that certainty. 

8. Beyond legal reforms, we have made measurable progress on the long-standing issue of trapped airline funds. For instance, IATA reported that Nigeria had cleared 98% of previously blocked airline funds by mid-2024, and later cited Nigeria as a clear example of how backlog resolution can be successfully achieved through constructive engagement and phased repatriation. In fact, that action sent an important message to global airlines, financiers, and investors: Nigeria understands that liquidity, convertibility, and repatriation are not side issues; they are foundational to market confidence.  
9. Ladies and gentlemen, these are some of the ways by which we are unlocking capital: by aligning law, regulation, financial credibility and investor protection. It is also why this Summit is timely. 

At this point, we must now move from reforming the framework to structuring the instruments, leases, guarantees, insurance-backed structures, export-credit support, local banking participation, and development-finance partnerships that can translate legal progress into actual fleet growth.

10. Ladies and gentlemen, capital flows where confidence exists, and confidence grows where institutions are credible, rules are predictable, and reforms are sustained. That is why we have continued to deepen regulatory and institutional reforms across the aviation ecosystem. Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2023 (Nig. CARs 2023) updated our regulatory framework in line with contemporary ICAO requirements across operations, safety management, airworthiness, aerodrome standards and economic oversight. 
11. 11. Confidence also grows when a market shows seriousness about capability-building. Under this administration, Nigeria has recorded important progress in this direction. Boeing and Cranfield University have provided training support for domestic airlines to strengthen safety culture and operational excellence in Nigeria. In addition, the Ministry has supported the ground-breaking of major local MRO investments, including the Air Peace MRO facility in Lagos and the XEJET $10million MRO facility in Abuja. These are done with a clear strategic objectives: reduce foreign maintenance dependence, cut aircraft downtime, retain value in-country and create skilled Nigerian jobs.  

In fact, the scale of Nigeria’s aviation opportunity is perhaps best illustrated by what is now happening in Lagos. With roughly half a billion dollars invested by the Nigerian government in the modernization of Lagos international airport infrastructure, Nigeria is making a clear statement that the gateway serving one of Africa’s most important aviation markets must match the scale of its responsibility. 

13. As a matter of fact, IATA data shows that Nigeria recorded 2.1 million international passenger departures in 2023, maintains direct links to 38 countries, supports 24 airports with scheduled commercial services, and has seen 17 new international routes added within the last five years. These are not ordinary statistics; they reflect market weight, connectivity relevance, and strategic importance within the African aviation landscape when viewed with the lens of Nigeria’s approximately 240 million population size.
14. When you put all these together with the ongoing airport investments at both federal and subnational levels, it demonstrates a broader national effort to deepen connectivity, expand trade-enabling infrastructure, strengthen Nigeria’s gateway role, and send a stronger signal of long-term confidence to operators, financiers and global partners. Let me be clear: confidence in Nigeria’s aviation sector is no longer aspirational. It is being institutionalised, through law, through regulatory alignment, through digital reform, through infrastructure renewal, and through visible support for indigenous capacity.
15. Capital and confidence must ultimately translate into tangible capacity: more aircraft, better connectivity, stronger local operators, more resilient airports, deeper maintenance ecosystems, and a workforce prepared for the future. This is where the scale of the opportunity becomes even clearer.
16. Interestingly, I mentioned earlier that Boeing projects that Africa will require 1,205 new aircraft and over 70,000 additional flight personnel, which includes 23,000 pilots, 24,000 technicians, and 27,000 cabin crew over the next twenty years. For Nigeria, this means aircraft acquisition cannot be discussed in isolation. It must be integrated with local MRO capability, training pipelines, airport efficiency, digital operations, cargo strategy, and aircraft support services. That is how we intend to capture full aviation value, rather than merely importing lift capacity.  
17. You will agree with me that the opportunity before Nigeria is not theoretical; it is measurable. Globally, air cargo represents less than 1% of trade volume, but roughly 35% of trade value. In other words, aviation carries a disproportionately high share of the goods that matter most in value terms; high-value, time-sensitive, export-enabling goods that drive modern economies. For Nigeria, this is the real prize. It means our aviation strategy must extend beyond passenger traffic improvements to the deliberate development of cargo hubs, cold-chain systems, smart border processes, and airport ecosystems that can support trade, manufacturing, agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, and digital commerce. When viewed through that lens, aviation is not just an industry to regulate; it is an economic platform to scale. It tells us that aviation is not only about passenger mobility. It is about export competitiveness, pharmaceutical logistics, perishables, e-commerce, high-value manufacturing, and time-sensitive trade. It is about positioning Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and other gateways not just as terminals, but as economic platforms. 
18. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, aircraft acquisition sits at the intersection of these three pillars of capital, confidence and capacity. Without modern and fuel-efficient fleets, Nigerian airlines cannot compete sustainably. Without financing certainty, they cannot scale. Without institutional confidence, global lessors and lenders will remain cautious; without local maintenance capacity, asset productivity suffers. Without skilled people, growth cannot be sustained.

That is why this Summit is so critical. We are not merely discussing airplanes. We are designing a financing ecosystem. We are convening OEMs, lessors, banks, export-credit institutions, insurers, regulators and operators to move from fragmented conversations to structured transactions; we are aligning market demands with capital solutions. We are building the conditions for fleet modernization, dry-lease scale-up, local MRO development, aviation workforce expansion, and stronger route economics for Nigerian carriers. In essence, we are working to close the gap between Nigeria’s aviation potential and its realised aviation capacity.  

19. To our global financiers, lessors, OEMs, development partners and institutional investors, let me say this with clarity: Nigeria is ready. We have strengthened our compliance architecture. We have improved creditor assurance. We have demonstrated progress on revenue repatriation. We are supporting local MRO development. We are investing in digital and institutional reform. We are pursuing cargo modernisation. And we are doing so in one of Africa’s most consequential aviation markets. What we seek now is partnership; partnership that unlocks affordable aircraft financing; partnership that supports fleet renewal and expansion; partnership that strengthens maintenance, training and technical capability; partnership that helps Nigeria become not just a market for aviation, but a platform for aviation growth across Africa.
20. Nigeria stands today at the threshold of a new aviation era, an era in which capital is more confident, institutions are more credible, and capacity is being deliberately built. Let us seize this moment together. Let us unlock the full potential of Nigeria’s aviation industry. Let us build an ecosystem that is investable, competitive, sustainable and globally relevant. And let this Summit be remembered as the moment when vision met structure, reform met capital, and Nigeria’s aviation future moved decisively from promise to performance.

Thank you and God bless.

FESTUS KEYAMO, SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK), FNIA.