Wole Shadare 
Nigeria has finally exited the depressing list among nations with bad records of defaulting aircraft agreement lease rental.
This came as the country has now complied fully with the Cape Town Convention on dry-leasing of aircraft by preparing and signing the Practice Direction, the country’s global rating status has once again soared higher.
This time around, its rating jumped from 70.5 to 75.5 points.
As a result of this, the Aviation Working Group (AWG), which is co-chaired by Boeing and Airbus companies, has removed the country from its watchlist.
The removal of the country from the watchlist would enable Nigerian airlines to access aircraft on dry leasing basis, while global financial companies would also be able to partner with Nigerian airlines for aircraft financing,
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo disclosed this to journalists on Thursday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos on the sidelines of the commissioning of Joint User Hydrant Installation Two (JUHI 2), owned by seven major oil companies.
Keyamo, who expressed delight at the latest point, said that this was the largest score the country had ever attained till date, noting that it would give comfort to financiers and the leasing world.
Keyamo insisted that the government was purposeful with its policies for the country’s aviation industry assuring that the government would continue to support private investors to thrive through the creation of an enabling environment for all.
He said: “It’s a major market opener for the aviation sector, especially the Nigerian aviation sector around the world.
“They can then go globally and access the world of aircraft financing and aircraft leasing. We were actually on a blacklist before; at 49.5, a non-compliant figure, we moved on to 70.5, which was a complaint belt, but still on the watchlist.
With 75.5, we are completely off the watchlist and the Aviation Working Group (AWG) co-chaired by Airbus and Boeing, they termed it a high score for the country and it matches the scores of most of the big nations in the world, which access big aircraft finances. We have that kind of access now I can assure you.
“I think it is the political will and the encouragement of Mr. President, the focus we have. Mr. President gave us the right direction on what to do and how to go and set up the policies there.
“This request I can tell you has been on the table in Nigeria, but nobody attended to it. They thought it was something they didn’t need to bother about.
“That was why we had a policy shift in the past in Nigeria to rather access other bigger countries to come and help us to take over our aviation eco-system, but we said we can’t do it.
“That was the solemn resignation to the fact that we can’t do it, but this policy shift, we should go to the root of what happened and how those other countries did this.
Nigeria last month moved from 49 points to 70.5 after the signing of the Cape Town Convention Practice Direction.
Keyamo had assured that the country had the potential for further increase in the next few weeks, stressing that he had directed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to immediately adjust its administrative rules called IDERA to also fully align with the convention to further boost the confidence of financiers and lessors across the world.
