Alexander Nwuba is indeed a man of many parts. I first met him in 1998 when I was in charge of Electronic Banking in the defunct Liberty Bank in Nigeria. He was then the President/CEO of SmartPay Global Inc. He was one of the people that helped to create the electronic payment industry in Nigeria.
Now he is playing a major role in the Aviation industry. I asked him a couple of questions about the industry.
Francis Ebuehi (FE): I know you have a lot of experience across a lot of industries and I see you are now active in the aviation industry. What are you currently working on?
Alex Nwuba (AN): It’s almost impossible to keep track of the various projects that I am working on currently. As head of the African region of a UAE based private equity firm, the Overseas Group, I am called on to oversee numerous projects across the region at the same time. However, one of my most challenging and at the same time more interesting projects is consultation to Bayelsa State on economic development. My objective here is to bring a degree of economic independence to what should be the one of the most prosperous states in Nigeria. The government is very supportive and focused and we have already signed a contract for the construction of a major deep-sea port, a major airport is ongoing in a process that I am involved in at every stage. We are working on creating an airline hub in which the state is an active investor. This airport and airline will be linked to an airport Free Zone which is in turn, linked to a seaport Free Zone. Presently several international companies have expressed interest to locate within the sea and airport Free Zones. Bayelsa State has the potential to become a major gas based economy and so we are also attracting businesses that can utilize the gas within the state to support the petrochemical and power industry which in turn will drive other industries. I am also involved in projects mainly across West Africa including airlines in Ghana, Niger and Guinea as well as in other sectors like oil and gas, power and agriculture
FE: Your LinkedIn profile says you are the MD/CEO of Smile Air and the COO of Eagle Airways Nigeria. Please can you clarify how you can be in two different companies and two different countries at the same time?
AN: I believe the earlier description of my job shows how this can be done. In Nigeria, I am involved with the launch of Smile Air Nigeria which I described, is in Bayelsa State and I am also involved in the establishment of Eagle Airline in Nigeria and Smile Air Ghana in Ghana. I can be involved in multiple airline companies because as I have always said, the airline industry in Nigeria has not met the capacity of the marketplace.
FE: What is your opinion of the current situation in the Nigerian aviation Industry?
AN: I think that fundamentally; the Nigerian aviation industry is in a grand mess driven by many factors beyond the control of the industry itself. To government, it is a cash cow; to the industry itself, it is a sick cow. So, what we have is a sick and dying cow being milked by the government. The industry faces poor infrastructure, high and multiple taxes and very high costs of doing business. The industry on its part, is not meeting the real challenges of the marketplace and today you see very high competitive operations on the same routes while most of the market is either underserved or not served. A situation where many airports in Nigeria are lying idle. As a result of these and other poor fundamentals, many pilots are being trained and cannot find work because there is no general aviation and small planes for them to develop skills that will qualify them for the requirements of airline jobs. The dearth of general aviation is also a killer for meeting the needs of low capacity routes as well as air transportation for many business sectors including logistics.
FE: What do you think is the panacea for all the issues besetting the aviation industry in Nigeria?
AN: A comprehensive policy overhaul. We need to address the foundation issues; you cannot have experienced pilots who can move to airline jobs if you do not have General aviation. And you cannot have General aviation without Avgas. Without smaller airlines, many airports will not be served; these gaps need to be addressed. On the part of government, we need to address the tax and the infrastructure issues. We also need to revisit the regulatory framework for other possible airline classifications that enable smaller airlines to operate and address the market gaps. We need to take more seriously the issues of security and safety and other issues that arose during the recent US Audit. On the airline side, we need to address the issues that have resulted in a recurring pattern of airline failures.
FE: What do you think about Nigeria having its own airline?
AN: Nigeria may choose to own an airline if the need is beyond pride. The concept of national airline is dated and has plenty of examples of failures. Most of us to a great extent have an idea why Nigeria Airways failed, it was not the lack of capacity to manage an airline. If we must have a national airlines we need to ensure that we implement a workable model with competent managers. Airlines like Emirates, Qatar and Etihad are successful because there is management autonomy and limited interference from the public sector.
FE: What are your thoughts on the role of government in the aviation industry?
AN: Government does not need to operate airplanes but rather create policy frameworks and interventions that will address the needs of this vital component of development. Beyond airlines we need airports that meet the needs of modern travel, we need to address the challenges within the regulatory agencies such as continuous training and personnel development and like I said earlier we need to create new airline models that address the real needs of the country not just Lagos, Abuja and Port harcourt. We need to create mechanisms for job creation and expansion, all of which government should create frameworks for.
FE: I hear rumors of Ethiopian Airlines trying to buy Arik Air even though AMCON says it has not received any proposal from the company. What are your thoughts?
AN: Arik is a private company, more so, it’s now a private company in the hands of government. I am aware that both AMCON and Ethiopian Airways have disavowed this story but something must be done with both the situations of Arik and Aero as significant capacity was lost with the demise of these companies. We need to address the core issues that led to their collapse so as to avert the repeat of such incidents, the primary culprit being corporate governance. This problem is not unique to Arik and Aero but is evident in most earlier airline failures. My clear and vocal opposition to ET’s takeover of Arik was and is, ET is a global player, it will be like pouring water on smoldering wood, the local industry will not survive an ET presence in the domestic market, this will lead to the loss of many hundreds of thousands at domestic airlines. Need an operator models that creates jobs for Nigerian employees, this is the key role of government and more so now that they control the airline… ET will only create a situation where Nigeria, a market substantially larger than its home market will become a branch of its global branch, we must remember the natural competitiveness of states. However, I am not opposed to AMCON hiring qualified ET manager or for that matter, managers from Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, British Airways or Lufthansa who bring superior competence to the running of the airline.
FE: On a lighter note, do you know how to fly a plane?
AN: I am a private pilot and I have owned and operated many aircraft.
