Interview card to regulate people in the industry. With that, you can identify a genuine travel agency and those that are not; it will be launched next month. In addition, we have created chapters for state NANTA. The association generally has just five zones, and in each of those zones, we have state chapters that are coming up. The membership of NANTA is fast growing because there is a much more improved visibility and connectivity, in addition to creating a user friendly online registration portal for NANTA members. This has made registration for new members stress-free and easily available as they can register and submit all their documents online. Saying quite a lot has been achieved will be an understatement. We have intervened where necessary with the Ministry of Aviation, as well as the Ministry of Tourism. They know the importance of NANTA and they liaise with us when required, every step of the way. What are the things limiting the growth of the tourism industry? The limitation is basically knowledge and policy based. Most of those policies need to be changed and some need to be upgraded for one reason or another. Aviation is a striving business everywhere in the world, and countries use it to showcase their countries’ worth. However in this part of the world, we've not done so well, but I know the present Minister of State for Aviation, Alhaji Sirika, is doing a lot to revive it with the assistance of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the highest ruling body in the aviation industry. We just need to harness the things that we have; all our facilities need to be ungraded and
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organized. The government needs to focus on formulating enabling policies as well as allow private entities to drive the business aspect of aviation. If we do these, we would get the dividend. Things have changed around the world and Nigeria cannot be left in isolation. We need to change the way we do things as well. Sir, what is your take on not having a national carrier in Nigeria? The truth is, there is a misconception about national carriers. What is a national carrier? It is a name you give to an airline that is owned by the country. In these days, several countries are changing from their national carrier to having flag carrier as long as they have the representative that can take it up and service it well. I believe the government can partner with lots of domestic carriers and make the best out of them, either by investing or by giving them a real environment that enables them fly to other countries uninhibited. Floating national carriers is not the best option right now, because we really don’t have the resources and even if we do, there are other things that deserve it. Talking about resources, does it make smaller African countries thriving in aviation are better than Nigeria? They are thriving because they have accountability, and they make the best of what they have. Here, we have been distracted by our oil. If Ethiopia had oil today maybe they won’t concentrate on their aviation. I think we need to divert our attention from oil and let it be an alternative. We have the population, therefore, I see aviation as the next main stay of the economy - if the government can pay attention to
it. As the president of a body that supervises aviation, have you made a formal proposal to the government as regards these? The good thing is that we have a very good
relationship with government as a pressure group, and we've always made it known that they need to have a change in policies or renewal of policies. We make suggestions to them from time to time, just to make sure that they are
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given proper guidance concerning the policies. And all these while, have they been listening to you? Yes, we have had situations where we have agreed on issues, and other times we have con-
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