FAAN: CARGO PLANES WILL BE DEPARTING FROM NIGERIA FULLY LOADED WITH GOODS
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN has designated and laid the foundation for the first ever one-stop-centre for aviacargo processing at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos.
The Managing Director, FAAN, Mr. Kabir Mohammed during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Aviacargo Village said, the centre is aimed at addressing the challenges militating against massive avia-cargo exports in the country.
Among these challenges he listed include,poor packaging, non-certifiaction and non-adherence to standards for export goods.
The need to establish an Avia-Cargo Village was identified at the aviacargo CHINET conference in 2021 as one of the quick wins in addressing the rejection of avia-cargo exports that would help to increase Nigeria exports and earnings.
The foundation laying ceremony which marks the beginning of a new phase in Avia-Cargo facilitation in Nigerian airports according to the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr. Kabir Mohammed is the determination of the Management
to ensure Nigeria takes its rightful place as number one in aviacargo exports in Africa within the next few years.
Mr. Kabir said, the avia-cargo village will have facilities for processing, packaging, certification laboratory services, data gathering for traceability of products and produces amongst others.
“You can be assured that in the next couple of years, Cargo planes will be departing from our airports fully loaded with goods that meet destination standards and acceptance”.
Coordinator, FAAN Aviacargo Roadmap Committee, Mr. Ikechi Uko said, the village would be a public private partnership initiative and it would serve as a template for other airports in Nigeria.
He said, the project is a Nigeria project and players in the sector would be invited to buy-in and invest.
“We are going to involve the best players in the world and we would open it up to Nigerians who are in this business to come and invest. It will improve our capacity to export, you can vet, you can package, it is a one-stop shop”.
The Avia-cargo village covers 2.7 hectres of land and located near the hajj and cargo export area of the Lagos international airport.
It is expected that all goods for export after processed, packaged and certified at the village would moved to the export warehouses where it would be loaded into the cargo planes to their different destinations.