The remark that “flying is not for the poor” was made in the 1990s by Air Commodore Nsikak Eduok, who served as Minister of Aviation under General Sani Abacha.
A statement that shocked the industry at the time, but it captured a mindset that shaped aviation policy for years. What is remarkable today is not that he said it, but that the sentiment still feels true in Nigeria—while the rest of the world, especially Europe, has moved in the opposite direction.
In Europe, flying has become the cheapest and most accessible form of long‑distance travel. A flight from Milan to Paris can cost less than a train ticket. A flight from Milan to Naples is often cheaper than a bus. In low season, you can fly from Milan to Morocco for ten euros—less than the cost of fuel for a bicycle trip across town. Europe has made flying so affordable that the poor fly more than the rich. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, flying remains a luxury, a last resort, or a necessity forced by insecurity on the roads.
The contrast is not accidental. Europe did not stumble into cheap flying. It engineered it. It built the systems, infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, competition, and incentives that make low‑cost aviation possible. Airports compete aggressively for traffic. Governments subsidize regional airports to stimulate economic activity. Airspace is unified and efficient. Fuel supply chains are optimized. Airlines operate high‑utilization fleets that fly up to fourteen hours a day. Taxes and charges are structured to encourage volume, not punish it. Rail and road networks are so strong that aviation must compete for passengers. The result is a transport ecosystem where flying is the most rational choice for millions of people.
Nigeria, on the other hand, has tried to copy the idea without copying the process. We want cheap tickets, but we have not created the conditions that make them possible. Our aviation fuel prices are among the highest in the world. Airlines face multiple layers of taxes and charges. Airports are expensive to operate and do not compete for traffic. Road and rail alternatives are weak, unsafe, or unreliable, so airlines face little competitive pressure. Fleet utilization is low because of operational inefficiencies, regulatory delays, and infrastructure constraints. Currency instability makes aircraft leasing and maintenance extremely expensive. In this environment, flying cannot be cheap. It is not a matter of willpower or patriotism. It is a matter of economics.
The tragedy is that Nigeria needs affordable flying more than Europe does. Our distances are long. Our roads are dangerous. Our rail network is limited. Our economy depends on mobility. Yet we have built an aviation ecosystem that makes flying inaccessible to the very people who need it most. Eduok’s 1990s statement was wrong in principle, but it has become true in practice because we have not done the work required to make aviation inclusive.
If Nigeria wants to change this, we must shift from airline‑centric thinking to ecosystem‑centric thinking. Cheap flying is not created by airlines. It is created by policy, infrastructure, competition, and efficiency. We need low‑cost terminals designed for quick turnarounds. We need transparent and stable fuel pricing supported by local refining. We need airports that compete for traffic rather than operate as monopolies. We need regulatory processes that reduce friction rather than add cost. We need multimodal transport so that airlines must compete with road and rail. We need a national aviation strategy—not a national airline—that aligns all players toward affordability, safety, and growth.
Continued
Europe built a system. Nigeria copied the symbol. Europe built the process. Nigeria copied the idea. If we want flying to become accessible again, we must stop admiring the outcomes of other countries and start understanding the machinery that produces those outcomes. The future of Nigerian aviation will not be transformed by slogans or nostalgia. It will be transformed by the hard, technical, unglamorous work of building an ecosystem where efficiency is rewarded, competition is encouraged, and mobility is treated as a public good.
Eduok’s statement should not define our future. It should challenge us to build a country where flying is not a privilege but a possibility for everyone.
Credit: Dr. Alex Nwuba
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