November 07, (THEWILL) – Over the years, there has been a serious inter-play and connectivity between tourism and transportation.
Realising this obvious fact, the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN) instituted the National Transportation Tourism Summit and Expo few years ago, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Tourism, the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Federal Ministry of Aviation as an annual event that focuses attention on the inter-play and connectivity between tourism and transportation.
ITPN led by the National President, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo is the professional body for hospitality, travel, Tourism and allied occupations in Nigeria. It is the premier awarding body and membership institute for professionals working in all sectors.
Already this year’s expo, which is in its fourth edition has been slated for November 15 and 16, 2021 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
It is expected that the expo will x-ray how comprehensively the various stakeholders and key players in the two industries at both public and private sector levels have fared in exploring the enormous opportunities and benefits inherent in synergising them.
The theme of the expo, ‘Tourism, Transportation, Connectivity: Leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Regime for Economic Sustainability’ is coming at a time free trade is being promoted on the continent that is capable of enhancing air transport and tourism in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
This is derived from the AfCFTA trade agreement, which is a common market to grow trade in ‘made-in-Africa’ goods and services by reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade among African countries.
Former Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nnamdi Udoh, disclosed that the African Union is gradually making great strides towards achieving and making sense of the wisdom behind this famous adage in its efforts to liberate Africa from colonial demarcations.
Mr Udoh said that apart from the physical barriers put in place by Africa’s former colonial masters, there are other intangible barriers that have been existing, which will still continue to be of great hindrance to Africa’s emergence if not brought down.
The former NAMA boss added, “The African Union’s recent actions of putting into place an African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) and the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) are giant steps toward recognising the over 1.3 billion inhabitants of the continent as one people, one market, one geographical space, and one nation, provided Africans see and reason into this together”.
According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the ACFTA goes beyond free trade in a broader sphere to establish free movement and investments across Africa. In March 2018, at the historic meeting of the African Union in Kigali, Rwanda, member states agreed to create an African Continental Free Trade Area. Subsequently, 52 of 54 African Union member states signed up to the agreement, representing a remarkable degree of consensus across the continent.
Following an opinion poll survey carried out in November 2018 by the Rockefeller Foundation, over 2,000 citizens across the continent confirmed that an impressive 77 per cent of Africans believe that the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement represented an important step forward. But what does this agreement exactly mean in practice and how will it affect us, especially with regards to the aviation sector in Africa?
To make this happen, the physical movement of people and goods cannot be ignored. In fact, it is the principal catalyst that will act as evidence of the existence of a free trade zone.
Therefore, aviation practitioners and the sector as a whole cannot be ignored. Serious considerations have to be given and put in place by governments, civil society, and regional institutions to assist and resolve all aspects hindering the aviation sector to thrive for full and better implementation of ACFTA and SAATM.
Africa is a big continent. You could fit the US, China, and Europe into the continent and still have space to spare. But in economic terms, individual countries are still very small. Take Ghana and Rwanda, for instance. These are some of the fastest-growing economies in the world. But in terms of size, they are ranked 82nd and 139th, respectively, out of 211 economies in the world, following the IMF ranking in 2019. This matters because small economies often struggle to attract the most needed investments.
Collectively, the story is very different. The African continent and all 54 economies together have a collective GDP of $2.5 trillion USD that making it the eighth largest economy in the world, just behind India. With 1.3 billion potential customers, it makes the continent much more attractive to investment, both from within and from outside the continent. This will encourage business people to make the required investments necessary to sustain economic growth and create the job opportunities the continent badly needs.
Perhaps, most significantly, Nigeria has signed the AfCFTA pact. Securing the participation of Africa’s largest and most populous economy marked a significant achievement.
Nigeria’s signature followed a lengthy domestic consultation with both trade unions and private businesses. Nigeria accounts for 17 percent of Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ranking just ahead of South Africa and with a domestic nearing 200 million people – as much as Ethiopia and Egypt combined. Its involvement is set to significantly bolster the AfCFTA’s strength and size.
Air Transport specialist and a former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun, said that with AfCFTA, it would be easier for airlines to grow in Africa, just like what is obtained in Europe.
Aisuebeogun said, “There is virtually no part of Europe that you cannot fly into from one particular spot because you have airlines crisscrossing the entire continent of Europe. We know that is not the case in Africa. I don’t want to go deep into that. We have talked about it for over 30 years. The challenge of flying across Africa is a major challenge. If we find it as a major challenge to fly across Africa or within Africa via intra-Africa transport system, then, you can imagine how it is going to limit the economic development of the region”.
“I keep saying that in all the interviews I have been granted and in my presentations in the last two years. We need to have citizens travel cards that enable us to go to South Africa, Banjul, Nairobi, Cairo without any limitations for legitimate reasons to do business that will engender economic growth of Africa and its citizens, business that will create wealth, business that will reduce poverty, business that will reduce unemployment and that is what Africa Continental Free Trade would do and I keep saying it that this can only be successful when we have SAATM to complement, he added
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
