Domestic and overseas passenger traffic at Nigerian airports has grown steadily in recent years; Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos accounts for more than 60% of total passenger and aircraft movements. The Nigerian government has also made progress with its sector-wide transformation program to address infrastructure challenges that have hampered the sector's profitability due to a long period of underinvestment - it needs to build new terminals at all four Nigerian international airports (Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Port Harcourt) and modernize their federal airports.

During a recent meeting between Ambassador Skolil and Fola Akinkuota, Executive Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), it emerged that due to the size of the country, the existing airport network does not cover air transport needs. The availability of some remote mining areas (eg asphalt) is particularly problematic, where land transport is currently the only and unfortunately time-consuming solution. The construction of smaller airports for industrial purposes would greatly help the local economy.

Given the deteriorating security situation and the nature of the hybrid threats facing Nigeria (piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, targeted damage to oil pipelines in the Niger Delta, conflicts in the north-east - Boko Haram and the north-west, banditry and cross-border terrorism and crime ), Nigerian “airspace defenders” also need tools to monitor the movement of helicopters and other aircraft at low altitudes. At the same time, the Nigerian side would welcome facilities for monitoring ground traffic at airports.

A contract was concluded with the Czech company ERA, a.s., a few years ago, which is now being fulfilled. The French manufacturer Thales provides most of the radar coverage in Nigeria, however, these system cannot do without a backup, which offers space for Czech manufacturers.

In the field of civil aviation industry, other Czech companies such as ABS Jet in the field of maintenance and repairs of cockpits and Smartwings in the field of local civil transport already found a way to Nigeria. AERO Vodochody remains the permanent Czech-Nigerian cooperation partner in the aviation industry. Another possibility for Czech production entities would be providing of maintenance and training in the operation of surveillance systems and Nigerian interest in technology transfer - some components could be manufactured in the country, which would help develop vocational education and reduce youth unemployment.

Author: Mgr. Beata Matusiková, MBA, Economic and Trade Counselor, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Nigeria