Nigeria has achieved a landmark 91.45 percent effective implementation score following the 2026 International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Coordinated Validation Mission, its highest safety audit result in history and well above the global average.
Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, announced the milestone on Tuesday while opening the 35th Airports Council International (ACI) Africa Annual General Assembly in Abuja.
Addressing regional airport executives, delegates, and international aviation stakeholders, Keyamo emphasised that the record-breaking audit score is not a final destination, but the country’s “new baseline” for ongoing reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Beyond regulatory compliance, Keyamo outlined major infrastructural interventions aimed at modernising Nigeria’s gateways into economic hubs. Central to this strategy is the ongoing rehabilitation and expansion of Terminal 1 at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
“An airport is a country’s front door. When a visitor arrives, the airport is often the first physical expression of the nation that visitor encounters. We therefore want our airports to communicate efficiency, dignity, hospitality, and confidence,” Keyamo said.
Keyamo urged a fundamental shift in viewing airports—moving away from seeing them merely as landing strips toward framing them as vibrant economic ecosystems.
To implement this transformation, the Federal Government is actively pursuing private-sector participation and domestic value creation.
Speaking to the conference theme, “Next-Gen Airports: Driving Performance and Resilience,” the Minister challenged leaders from across the continent to urgently tackle the structural barriers limiting travel within Africa.
Keyamo highlighted the paradox that travelling between two African cities often remains more difficult than travelling to destinations outside the continent.
He called for the full operationalisation of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) alongside the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to drive economic integration.
While advocating for digital transformation, including biometrics, artificial intelligence for operational planning, and automated passenger flows, Keyamo warned against losing sight of the passenger experience.
He noted that technology must serve a human purpose: making journeys safer, faster, and more dignified.
He commended Olubunmi Kuku, ACI Africa Vice-President and Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), for her leadership in organising the continental gathering in Abuja.
Closing his address, Keyamo declared the assembly open, urging delegates to turn policy discussions into concrete projects that establish resilience as a core design principle for every airport built or transformed across the continent.
