Organisers of the annual Chinet Aviacargo Conference have announced that the 2023 edition would hold from August 9 to 10 in Lagos with the theme “Unlocking The Logistics Barrier To Improved Agro Product Exports.”
The 2023 conference is expected to move the country to its desired objective of making Nigeria a cargo and export hub. It will further enlighten more farmers, agricultural associations, government agencies, logistics companies and other components in the sector on the plans/processes and right steps to take to meet international best practices and export more by air.
The communique from the second edition led to the creation by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) of an Aviacargo Committee to develop a road map to drive export and turn the country into a cargo hub.
The organizer, Ikechi Uko, noted that Nigeria is largely regarded as an import- driven economy with oil being the major export accounting for 96 per cent. Last year, Nigeria recorded non-oil export earnings of $4.82 billion, an increase of over 39 per cent, according to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
Quoting Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Uko said: “Africa was the leading destination for Kenya’s exports in 2022, accounting for 41 per cent of the country’s total export earnings.”
The agency said that the country’s total exports to Africa hit $2.62 billion last year, with the East African Community (EAC) economic bloc accounting for 63.3 per cent of the total exports to Africa.
“Nigeria is about 1.6 times bigger than Kenya. Kenya is approximately 580,367 sq km, while Nigeria is approximately 923,768 sq km, making Nigeria 59 per cent larger than Kenya.
“Meanwhile, the population of Kenya is 55.9 million people. Over 200 million people live in Nigeria. Nigeria’s export figure can be increased if the necessary policy, systems and infrastructure are put in place. Kenya currently is leading Aviacargo Airport in Africa.
“Nigeria is the leading producer of many agro products but does not export much of these products. It is believed that the challenge of Nigeria and most African countries is in the logistics problems between the farm and the airport. Hence, the need to unlock this barrier to improve and increase agro produce will be the focus of Chinet 2023.
“This will help to ensure that Nigeria becomes a bigger export-driven economy. A lot of airlines still bring freighters fully laden daily to Nigeria and most of them fly out empty. There is, therefore, a need to reverse this dysfunctional scenario. Nigeria needs to export more and aviation should be the key to increasing exports.”
A lot of Nigerian goods get rejected abroad leading to huge losses but with the introduction of insurance, this trend can be reversed. With this understanding of the cargo and export process, we can integrate our systems by networking and learning from each other as problems shared eventually become problems solved,” the agency said.
