The President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, Bankole Bernard said the economic downturn has caused setbacks in air travel, noting however that the country can boost foreign exchange by developing tourism.
What is your review of travel agencies performance since last year, looking at the impact of recession and the low value of the Naira?
Travel agency business in Nigeria has suffered a lot of setbacks as a result of many things and one of the most critical parts of it is the inability of foreign airlines to remit their funds. The terrible runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja equally contributed in some airlines taking some safety measures to stop plying that route.
So what happened is that some of the airlines have brought aircraft with smaller capacity compared to the ones they were operating to different destination in Nigeria before. This means that demand still outweighs supply. The truth is, if the capacity that we used to have is still there, it means that things should balance up because the demand will meet the supply, but now demand outweighs supply. This has led to the high cost of tickets. Everyday passengers are crying that the prices of tickets are too high but they don’t have a choice because there is no alternative for them. Even as at today you cannot book a seat on Medview Airline that is going to London. It is full. So that is the challenge we have had between last year and this year.
This is why we have been clamouring for government to look into this problem by making sure that certain level of concession is given to the aviation industry when it comes to forex request. That way it will bring some sort of relief to the passengers and enable people like us to still stay in business.
There have been agitation in the industry that government should introduce a policy that will enable foreign carriers to code-share with Nigerian airlines that have met the given international safety standards. Do you agree with that?
The truth is that this is business. Government does not have any business interfering in business. All they need to do is to formulate policies and guidelines that will make it suitable for our local carriers to survive in the international market. For instance in Britain, the British government would always give concession to the British carriers so that they can remain competitive, at least on that route. It is the same thing in America; the US will give concession to their carriers. This is what is expected from our government. They don’t need to force anybody to code-share or not to code-share. Where the standard is good and the service is great, trust me, they will not have a choice than to code-share.
For instance, let’s look at it this way. If we have a national carrier that can go to Benin, Sokoto, Maiduguri and others; British Airways cannot fly those routes; it is only Nigerian carrier that can operate, for example, London-Sokoto, London Benin etc. in Britain they sell air ticket in conjunction with rail. So you can take British Airways and take a rail that will take you to your final destination. Those are part of the added value that British Airways give to its passengers coming into their country. This could also be done in Nigeria if we have a national carrier.
Paucity of aviation fuel is threatening to paralyse air operation in Nigerian and it is also affecting international carriers. What is your suggestion for a permanent solution?
I will be honest with you. It is pure insincerity on the part of the marketers. Those that they engage to make this product available. If they make it an open market for all, under proper regulations, people can take up that business of supplying enough product to meet the demand so there wont be suffering like this. When you look at the marketers, they are very few so they are holding the entire industry to ransom. What is the big deal? As a matter of fact, I don’t see the reason why aviation fuel should not be available.
Every time they will say it is because they are not getting foreign exchange from the government. Cant the government make an arrangement for them to do a sort of crude swap that will enable them to bring in Jet A1. Let us create bigger, better farm tanks that will be a reservoir that can take supply, which can last for two, three months. But this is not what we are seeing; what we are seeing is everybody holding the country to ransom. When you ask them why aviation fuel is costly they will say bridging has made the cost of aviation fuel very high. Guess what, they don’t have aviation shortage in Ghana. Why? Does it mean their demand is less than ours? I think in this country government has to start holding people responsible for their actions. Everybody does what he likes and gets away with it. If you were given a licence to perform and you are not performing you should be withdrawn and let other people take that challenge and see if they will not do it a lot better. The shortage of aviation fuel is artificially created, so that the marketers could make more money and it is unfair on the industry and it is unfair on the masses.
What do you think Nigerian government should do to enhance tourism?
To the best of my knowledge I think government has not shown sincerity in the area of tourism. If you really want tourism to develop, there are certain steps that you will take and the entire world will know truly that you wan to develop this aspect of the economy. For example, a government that wants to develop tourism cannot scrap the Ministry of Tourism. Now you have left tourism in the hand of a man that has so much to deal with. This is a man that has Information to deal with, a man that has Culture to deal with, the man that has National Orientation to deal with, before he gets to tourism. So tourism has been left at the back burner, so if it is at the back burner and you desire growth there; I don’t see serious growth coming from that sector.
And we know that the only area that can complement tourism is travel. And when we talk about travel we are referring to air transport, which is the aviation industry. When we put our aviation industry in perfect shape; then we will see the growth that is desired in that tourism industry. I don’t see the reason why Mr. President cannot put tourism in the hands of the man that is managing aviation because he balances up the portfolio.
I sincerely believe that aviation and tourism should be under one portfolio that should be managed by one Minister. Whoever Mr. President will be made the Minister, it will be fine by us. This necessary so that the person can see the benefits both the sectors can bring onboard. That way tourism will thrive in our country.
Tell me one country in Africa that has shown seriousness about tourism that does not have a robust aviation industry. South Africa Airways are promoting South Africa tourism, so everything is complementing one another. Every time you see South Airways you see South Africa tourism. Why? Because they believe they have to work hand in hand to grow the sector. Go to Rwanda and you see they have a very good carrier, Rwand Air; go to Dubai, they have Emirates Airlines; they have Emirates Holiday and they have Dubai Tourism. If you go to Kenya you will see Kenya Airways that is working hand in hand with Kenya Tourism board. So, invariably one Minister can hold both portfolios conveniently. The aviation industry will ride on the back of tourism and tourism will ride perfectly on aviation. Since we are in recession, we have said it many times that tourism is one of the low hanging fruits that can easily take us out of this recession.
Agriculture is going to take a longer gestation period; manufacturing will take a longer period, but tourism will take a very short period and what do we need to do, put our aviation industry together and marry the two sectors together. We should start developing our local tourist attraction and we are there.
Starting from Lagos, what is the tourism potential we have in Nigeria and what do you think is the projected income we could earn if these potential is harnessed?
Over the years many foreigners come to Lagos, Nigeria to work. Lagos still remains the commercial nerve of the country because we have a seaport and we have a lot of commercial activities going on here, followed by other states round the country. Lagos has a lot of potential for tourism. Why do I say so, because it is by the seashore? What have we done with our Bar Beach and all the seafront that we could turn into money spinning facility? We haven’t really look at it and every time the government wants to look into it nothing much is realised. Why can’t government allow people to bid for it so that it will be given to the private sector? Whether foreign or local bidder, let them choose and let it be properly managed so that government will take its hands off it. Government does not have business going into commercial activities. This is what is killing us; government should continue to formulate policies. They are not business people; they are policy markers.
They formulate policies that create enabling environment for business to thrive. Now, when those foreigners come around, they don’t have anywhere to go to? Apart from those who do their business and go, have we created an atmosphere where he can go and spend extra dollars. What it means is that when he comes to Nigeria, whatever hard currency he had he will take it back because there is nothing to spend it on. There is nothing. Who is creating awareness? That is what I would have expected Lagos tourism board to be doing by promoting those potential tourism areas. When all these are done Lagos will start to benefit from tourism. It is the same thing with Ogun state; that is, Lagos’ neighbor. It has a lot of potential as well. They should not allow this potential to remain unexplored.
We need to do something about it. What do we need to do about it? Show some seriousness that you are committed to developing these places, not just by word, but by action. Look at Badagry. What have we done with it? Have we created good roads that will make people conveniently go to Badagry or the beach? They have potential but that potential is not being exploited. The moment government shows seriousness about tourism in Lagos it becomes another money-spinner for the state. Recently they created One Lagos platform, after creating it they had a mega show and everything went quiet again. Money has been wasted; it has gone quiet.
There is always this allegation that Nigerian travel agencies only promote outbound travel; that they do not encourage inbound travel?
Yes, I agree with you completely because we are business minded people and we only do business that brings profits to our pockets. Now, South Africa tourism is here in Nigeria encouraging us to promote South Africa and we see the benefits that come to us. There is tourism here in Nigeria, promote it. Gambia tourism is here promoting Gambia. Please tell me, what is our tourism board promoting? Are they talking to travel agencies? Do they even know the number of travel agencies? Do they have our database, do they work closely with us for them to understand what and what they should do. If they have not done all that then they have not shown any seriousness. If they really want to develop domestic tourism then we need seriousness on the part of government. We are crying for it. I will tell you something.
As it stands today, the first television station in Africa is in Ibadan. Who has promoted it? Do you know why nobody is promoting it? It is because it is in the hands of government. But if there is a private, public partnership agreement and if the television house is given to me, I will sell it to the rest of the world and I will tell them, come and see the first television station in Africa and everybody will come and look at it.
We have the first and biggest Cathedral in Nigeria in Abeokuta but who is creating the awareness? Nobody. The US and other developed countries are still promoting their countries till tomorrow. They are asking you to come and see what they have. What are we telling people to come and see in Nigeria?
In the last three years how has NANTA evolved and what do you intend to make of the association?
Well, NANTA has been existing since the last 43 years and it has had its ups and downs and for me being young and vibrant and being able to have done business successfully, I believe that it is time to give to the association that has been responsible for all of us and that is why I took the mantle of leadership of the association. And ever since I took the leadership of NANTA I have been coming up with ideas that will project the image of association. We need to show that this is the body that is responsible for all travel agencies in Nigeria. This body is a pressure group and not a union. It is a pressure group that will be able to speak to the government, advise the government on where the shoe pinches, how it affects our business, how it affects travel and our economy and tell government how travel is done in everywhere around the world we have gone to. And how things should be done in our market and that is what NANTA has been doing.
NANTA has been striving to reposition itself to become extremely relevant when it comes to travel and tourism in Nigeria and ever since I took over I have visited all the zones because as it stands today we have over 6000 members are spread across Nigeria and we have five zones. We have the northern zone, which is in Kano; we have Abuja zone, we have eastern zone that is in Port Harcourt, we have western zone that is in Ibadan then we have Lagos zone. In these five zones we have vice-presidents who work closely with me and we are developing and creating awareness among our members and among our locals; that look, your travel agency has a lot to offer and will make it not only easy for you but we can easily promote domestic tourism.
I can imagine the government working closely with the travel agencies tourism will develop and sell faster than any other thing because our members will all be out promoting Nigeria and promoting what we have in all those states. Why won’t we be able to make money from it? But just like I have said, there is no sincerity on the part of government.
The tourism board is not doing anything. The commissioner of tourism in each of those states is not taking tourism seriously. The state governors do not understand or see potential in tourism and as long as they don’t see it, there is no how they can harness it. They will look at it and say they have been pumping money into it without seeing a thing. The reward of tourism comes in indirectly. You invest in it and you get the result indirectly. This is because all the people involved have to pay their taxes; their business will grow and government stands to benefit at the end of the day. That is what tourism is all about. So NANTA has the capacity to help government develop this area and that is why NANTA has become so visible in the last two months. And we will continue to make our points known until government comes to terms with it.
Do you think having a national carrier will strengthen domestic air travel and also give Nigeria the opportunity to be a major player in the international market?
National carrier is a laudable idea, but you see, just like the domestic carrier that we have now and the challenges they are going through. The national carrier will suffer the same if we do not create an enabling environment for it to survive. We have to create an environment that will make the national carrier to survive, that will also make domestic carriers to survive; then we will see a true growth in the aviation industry. The foreign airlines that are coming into Nigeria, mind you, Nigeria is not the only route they fly and you know what they do? They get a lot of support from their government. There is what we call comparative advantage. The comparative advantage that British Airways has is the fact that it originated from UK. The comparative advantage Nigerian carriers should have is the fact that they are originating from Nigeria. So it gives them leverage over others. It gives them an advantage over others.
In Dubai they carved out a terminal for Emirates and at Heathrow, London they carved out a terminal for British Airways and these terminals are well built to their specification. So are we going to have a national carrier that will be using the international terminal that is looking like a dead zone and the passengers will go through that? No. Let us have a national carrier. We need to renew our policies in the aviation industry that will help that national carrier to survive in the midst of stiff competition.
What is your reaction to the present campaign for the concession of airports?
I am completely not against airport concession. It is a laudable move. Do you know that Gatwick Airport London was actually concessioned to a Nigerian? And they did not have reasons to complain and it is a Nigerian that is managing it. Why cant we concession our airports, even if it is a foreigner that is going to manage it. If they are the ones that have the funds, if they are the ones that will put them into good shape, please let us give it to them. Let us ensure that we are giving it to a competent hand. Let us take politics out of it. Let us give it to a competent hand that will be able to manage it effectively and take away the shame and reproach our present terminals bring to us. It will take away the embarrassment. If we allow the concession to happen, I will tell you there will be no loss of jobs. It is the quality of the people that will work there that will matter. If they are qualified and they are skilled they will get the job. I will tell you the airport will even employ more because it means that every apparatus an airport needs will now be there and everybody will be better for it. So I am in full support of the airport concession.
THISDAY
