Nigeria Promises Enhanced Asset Recovery for Aircraft Lessors
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has offered reassurances to aircraft lessors about the ease of asset recovery in the country. This assurance was provided during a meeting with officials from leading aviation companies, Boeing and AerCap, as well as the chairman of Air Peace (P4, Lagos). The meeting, reported by the Nigerian Tribune, focused on addressing concerns of lessors regarding asset retrieval in cases of customer default.
Historically, lessors have been hesitant to engage with Nigerian carriers due to previous difficulties in recovering assets. Despite Nigeria being a signatory to the Cape Town Convention, which aims to facilitate asset recovery, amendments to local laws in 2007 gave precedence to local employees and suppliers over international entities in default disputes. This legal framework allowed for liens to be placed on company assets, complicating the recovery process for lessors.
Keyamo sought to alleviate these concerns by emphasizing that under the current government, lessors would receive guarantees for the prompt release of their assets from any defaulting Nigerian airline. He highlighted that this shift in policy would not only benefit lessors but also aid local airlines by enabling them to compete more effectively with international carriers.
According to ch-aviation fleets advanced data, Nigeria’s aviation sector is quite diverse, with 201 large commercial aircraft registered across 29 carriers. While many of these aircraft are owned by the airlines or the government, several lessors, including Standard Chartered Aviation Finance, CIAF Leasing, AerCap, ATR Leasing, SKY Leasing, and Oceanic Capital, have a significant market presence. Notably, AerCap, one of the largest lessors globally, has eight B737s placed with Air Peace, marking the largest active aircraft lease deal in Nigeria.
In addition to the meeting with lessors, Keyamo also announced the appointment of new directors at several key aviation agencies, including the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, and the Federal Airports Authority Of Nigeria. This move followed the recent dismissal of previous directors over safety concerns.
ch-aviation has reached out to Minister Keyamo for further comments on these developments. This proactive approach by the Nigerian government signifies a positive step towards bolstering confidence among international leasing companies and enhancing the operational landscape for the country’s aviation sector.