The air transportation and aviation sector in Nigeria started, through the use of the Kano experience in quelling the first-ever twin concept of rural and urban crises, by the ever-proactive British colonial administrative masters, who were largely members of the secret service.

An incident led to the formation of what was later to be an eye-opener to areas and domains that people least expected would grow, expand, and develop to great heights, ushering in positive administrative development for the benefit of the citizenry.

The thought or dream of developing Nigeria’s aviation sector was an institutional seed sown over 100 years ago, precisely on 1 November 1925, in Kano Metropolis, the capital of Kano State in North-West Nigeria, which is aptly described as the largest commercial nerve centre in Northern Nigeria and attractive to traders from across the North, Central, West, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the life of any nation, 100 years’ longevity is enough to usher in positive milestone achievements in areas of administrative development and other spheres of human endeavour, including aviation, air transportation, travel, tourism, and hospitality.

Between 30 October and 1 November 2025, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, in conjunction with professional aviation industry players as well as the management and staff of Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Kano State, North-West Nigeria, will be marking the historical first aircraft landing in Nigeria at Kano, recorded on 30 October 1925, which represents a 100-year experience and lasting impressions.

Given the benefits of a tie-back to history and research, it can easily be said that the chequered history of the twin concepts of air transportation and aviation in Nigeria started on 1 November 1925, in the traditionally ancient city of Kano, when a British Royal Air Force flight, 3D Haviland DH 9A aircraft, touched down first at the old Kano Aerodrome and later at the present-day Kano Polo Ground.

The landing of the British Air Force flight was of self-serving interest to the then British colonial administration.

It was meant to offer a military quick-interventionist approach towards quelling rural and urban crises that erupted between British Native Authority officers, their officials, and the Kano natives.

This economic and administratively induced crisis, whether by accident or design, has today given Nigeria a reason to reevaluate a date in history.

It has also offered Nigeria a good reason to re-examine her journey so far towards revamping and repositioning the nation’s aviation ecosystem.

It is instructive to note that after the self-serving 1 November 1925 inaugural flight by the British Royal Air Force, the colonial administration saw the need to establish pilot airstrips in Kano, North-West, Maiduguri in the North-East, and later in Lagos for the South-West.

This proactive political leadership experience and decision to have additional airstrips spread across geographical domains, besides being driven by British military intelligence recommendations in the uncertain direct colonial administration of Northern Nigeria, also speaks to the views of the famous African scholar Walter Rodney, whose best-selling intellectual property work How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, 100 years later, calls institutional attention to the urgent need for Nigeria to be the leading nation in the continental aviation ecosystem.

Judging from the Kano experience, which was handed down to us 100 years ago, the need then to develop elementary or rudimentary aviation route points by way of airstrips was basically to facilitate the ease of air transportation for serving British government officials.

It was also to enable the movement of mail, correspondence, and allied lightweight cargo parcels to London, in view of the undeveloped geographical terrains and hostile physical environments at the time.

Shortly after that landmark pioneer aircraft-landing experience in Kano on 1 November 1925, the British Imperial Airways came alive in 1936 and started regular air shuttle services that traversed Nigeria, strategic West African British colonies, and London, the capital of the United Kingdom.
As the years rolled by, newer aviation project developmental strides also came on-stream, leading to the creation of the first Flight Information Regions in Kano and Lagos, respectively, even as the British colonial government went ahead to create the West Africa Air Transport Authority (WAATA) in 1946.

The aviation industry in Nigeria, upon the attainment of political independence in 1960, had well-defined policy directions.
These policy directives fell on the desk of Nigeria’s pioneer Honourable Minister of Aviation in the First Republic, Chief Mbazuluike Amaechi, aka “The Boy Is Good,” whose institutional efforts in the business of air transportation were complemented by Nigeria’s pioneer of the Air Force, Dr. Shettima Ali-Monguno, shortly after the British government granted ephemeral political independence.

Somehow, Nigeria, with divine intervention and a pool of creative, brilliant human resources, has since independence grown to develop the aviation sector to the level it is currently.

Though subsequent federal administrations had been able to define aviation pathways within the limits of their knowledge and competence, none had approached the emerging innovative input processes that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his administrative concept of the Renewed Hope Agenda policy directives, has brought to bear in the nation’s aviation industry.

As Nigeria marks the remembrance of the legendary but separate aircraft-landing experiences in Kano—one in November 1925 on the old horse-race track, commonly referred to as the Polo Ground, and the other at the old Kano Airstrip, which today houses Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano—100 years later, Tinubu,, would be emboldened to roll out new policy directives that would, before the end of his first tenure, revolutionise Nigeria’s aviation ecosystem.

For instance, for Tinubu, whose policy directives within the nation’s aviation public sector have recorded huge milestones, he appears well-positioned to revamp all 27 airports in Nigeria under the supervision of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

This can be seen in the quality of resource personnel Tinubu appointed to individually and collectively oversee the functionality of the sub-sector, ranging from the brilliantly intelligent Honourable Minister of Aviation & Aerospace Development, Senior Counsel Festus Keyamo (SAN), the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, the Chairman of the FAAN Governing Board, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, as well as the esteemed members of the FAAN Board. The same credit goes to the management agencies in the aviation industry.

A guided tour of all 27 federal airports, including the five internationally designated airports—Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Kano, and Port Harcourt—would show that there are many fresh work schedules as well as rehabilitation projects to be carried out in order to bring these airports to the standards that their individual and collective images represent.

Happily, the appointment of Ganduje, a seasoned administrator, technocrat, and scholar who in 1976 functioned as the Sole Administrator of the present-day Gwagwalada Local Government Council, as the Chairman of the FAAN Governing Board, is timely.

For the 49-year-old FAAN, whose board is chaired by Ganduje, the expectations of Nigerians are numerous and relevant, given the urgent need for full upgrade of almost all existing facilities at the various airports.

No less than international best-practice standards are required to be seen at all Nigerian airports.

Perhaps what Nigerians are looking forward to from Tinubu is nothing less than the total repositioning of Nigeria’s aviation ecosystem.

As the Ganduje-led FAAN Governing Board joins millions of Nigerians in reflecting on the historical significance of 100 years since the first aircraft landing in Kano, it is the expectation of all Nigerians that, before the end of the first tenure of Tinubu’s administration and at least six months into a potential second term, modern MRO hangar facilities will have been built across the major airports and Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, through public-private partnerships (PPP).

This writer also believes that Tinubu, armed with the executive brief about this 100-year commemoration of the aircraft landing, would also announce that the deplorable state of all federal and even state airports in Nigeria will be addressed, with a view to total rehabilitation and reconstruction of decayed facilities.

It is also the expectation of Nigerians, who voted him into office in 2023 and would likely do so again in 2027, that Tinubu’s developmental administrative projection in repositioning the nation’s aviation ecosystem should include massive expansion work in all FAAN-managed airports, in the spirit of the Renewed Hope Agenda policy directives of the APC federal administration.

The essence of this multi-billion-naira capital project, whose initial fiscal instruments deployment would outweigh and even surpass returns on investment, apart from ranking among the highest foreign-exchange-earning streams, would create massive employment opportunities for skilled professionals, artisans, and allied middle-level Nigerians, including non-Nigerians.

The establishment of these MRO hangar facilities would position Nigeria as the leading aviation industry hub for the West and Central African sub-region, saving the country millions in foreign-denominated funds—whether in US dollars, pounds sterling, or euros—for routine annual expenditure on C-checks and D-checks maintenance, repair, and overhaul processes abroad.

Expectedly, it is heartwarming to note that the leadership of Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) government has made giant strides in its first 26 months, establishing a solid aviation foundation to make Nigeria a leading aviation hub in West and Central Africa.

The introduction of Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) hangar facilities by FAAN across the country’s major airports, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is a pivotal step in the government’s political leadership journey.

It will also enhance the aviation sector’s self-reliance and institutional autonomy, besides spurring economic growth and development.

The strategic placement of MRO facilities throughout Nigeria is not merely a logistical enhancement; it represents a transformative opportunity for the nation’s aviation industry.

By providing essential maintenance services locally, these hangars can reduce dependency on foreign facilities, significantly lowering operational costs for airlines. This self-sufficiency can be a game-changer, positioning Nigeria as a central hub for aviation activities in the region, particularly when considering global case studies whose experiments have turned into huge successes.

Establishing MRO hangar facilities empowered by FAAN across major airports and the FCT, Abuja, would be one of President Tinubu’s lasting legacies.
Celebrating 100 years since the first aircraft landing in Nigeria, on a rudimentary airstrip in the ancient city of Kano, should spur Nigeria towards recording greater successes and repositioning the aviation ecosystem.

One hundred years is a long enough period for us, as the giant of Africa, to set standards for other African countries.

Given the required motivational incentives, Nigeria can and will achieve greater milestones and soar to new heights in the aviation industry.

Ibrahim, a political scientist and public affairs commentator, is the National Convener, National Agenda for Tinubu 2027 (NAFT.27)