ROTIMI ASHER
The global aviation industry, including Nigeria, is recovering faster from the Covid-19 pandemic, which collapsed the world’s economies for the most parts of 2020 and some few months in 2021.
The Chairman, Airport Business Summit, Fortune Idu, the organizer of the Nigeria Aviation (NIGAV) Award who made this known recently said, ”the company would recognise professionals, workers and investors in the sector who made the fast recovery possible in Nigeria through an award ceremony and Ministerial Dinner scheduled to hold on December 19, 2021 at its facilities at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
Speaking with some select aviation correspondents over the weekend in Lagos, Idu explained that the aviation industry had performed excellently beyond industry’s expectations in 2021 despite the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic.
According to him, the industry had recorded tremendous improvement in passenger and cargo traffics in recent times, stressing that it is gradually returning to the pre-Covid-19 era.
Idu declared that air travelers now had more confidence in travelling in the industry due to the many protocols put in place by the government, which he noted had helped in curbing the spread of the pandemic in the country through the sector.
He, however, lauded the professionals, workers, stakeholders and organizations in the industry that ensured the quick recovery of the sector, stressing that such players should be rewarded for their zeal and performance.
He said: “First, we look at generally how the industry has performed and you can see there is a serious increase in terms of traffic, almost climbing to pre-Covid-19 era, which is a good recovery. So, the question is what role did people, individuals and companies play to get us to this point? So, this year’s event we are looking at recovery.
“Because the assessment was that the Industry will take long to recover, but now, it is recovering very fast. So, what role did we play? What role did individuals play? We start to look at each unit and what role they could have played. For instance, restart of the airport, operations played a very serious role in this and making sure we didn’t have pandemonium at the airport in terms of human management.
“Add all that there was this issue of having to put lines, having to restrict movement, having to monitor movement, having to insist change in behaviour, character, wearing of masks. These are completely strange things to the people. We had to put that in the industry, force it on the industry and of course, people complied, and those people who made sure that people complied we need to look at them.”
On the forthcoming award and Ministerial Dinner, Idu explained that the event would be held on December 19, 2021 at its facilities at the Lagos Airport.
According to him, the award, which is already in its 10th year, would reward professionals who had put in their best to sustain the industry in the past one year.
Idu insisted that the award was geared towards the promotion of best industry practices and rewarding those who had been behind the success of the industry.
He said: “So, new people come in and behind this successful aviation year, are people who are very relentless in their service to the industry from the technical, operation, management, safety, security parts, those who carried out studies and work on the economies of the air transport industry. All of them are involved in contributing to yearly aviation safety records because the industry is very sensitive.
Among those to be rewarded at the event are the King and Queens of the Air, which attracts cash rewards.
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