The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is organizing a one-day International Civil Aviation Conference on Economic Viability and Financial Sustainability of the Nigerian Aviation Industry at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja tomorrow, Wednesday, October 23, 2024.
The theme of the conference is “Building a Viable Aviation Industry for National Economic Growth and Development, and the venue is Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja by 9:00 AM prompt.
Industry and financial experts are the major speakers at the conference which objective would touch on how to fund the industry, cost of airline operation in Nigeria and how operators can access credit facility with the recent efforts of the federal government on Cape Town Convention.
Keynote Speakers include, Innocent C. Ike, who will speak on “Building a Viable Aviation Industry for National Economic Growth and Development: Funding Imperatives.”
Innocent is a consummate professional banker with a very rich and successful career spanning over 30 years, mainly in the Nigerian financial services industry climaxing with his appointment on September 1st 2020 as the Group Managing Director/CEO of Polaris Bank Limited.
Consequently, he took up the responsibility of leading the transformation of one of Nigeria’s legacy financial institutions Polaris Bank Limited into a digital first financial services provider and successful divestment in October 2022.
Through investment in people, technology, and processes, he ensured that Polaris Bank Limited achieved significant growth and improvement across key performance indices since taking over leadership in August 2020, not-withstanding the global economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic era.
Aviation security expert, Mr. Olusheyi (Sheyi) Ogunleye will speak on, ‘Unlocking Nigeria’s Economic Potential: Effective Regulatory Oversight for Sustainable Safety and Security in Aviation”.
Ogunleye is a former United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Representative and Attache to West Africa.
In this role, he served as the principal regulatory and aviation security liaison to 13 African countries, all US air carriers, and as aviation security adviser to US ambassadors in the region. With over 28 years of aviation security, regulatory, and anti-terrorism experience, Mr. Ogunleye is a true and tested expert in his field.
With a career spanning over 19 years with the foremost aviation regulatory and security agency in the United States – the TSA – Sheyi has been privileged to serve in several leadership and executive roles domestically in the US and internationally, to include roles as the Federal Security Director for Screening Operations in Houston Texas, Deputy Federal Security Director for Regulatory Operations in San Francisco California, and Program Analyst at the TSA headquarters in Virginia, to mention a few.
Mr. Ogunleye also served as the Assistant Vice President for Airport Security, and Airport Security Coordinator for the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the second busiest airport in the world. Prior to his US federal career, Sheyi worked in Ground Operations for Southwest at the Oakland International Airport.
The third lead speaker, Barisua Fortune Nwinee will present a paper on, Building a Secure and Sustainable Civil Aviation Sector: Catalyst for National Income Growth in Nigeria. Nwinee is a Professor of Finance, Banking and Insurance at the University of Port Harcourt.
He holds degrees in Accounting, Money and Banking, Finance and Financial Economics all earned with Distinction. He is a well-honed home grown academic with global focus.
His work experience spans three decades from the manufacturing sector, the construction industry, the public service, the banking and financial services sector as well as the academia.
At various times, Professor Nwinee served the Federal Government of Nigeria as the Chairman, Family Economic Advancement Programme, Rivers State; Special Adviser (Economic and Budget Matters) to the President, Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Senior Technical Adviser to the Minister of State for Finance.
He actively participated in the policy formulation of the various on-going reforms of the financial services sector of the Nigerian economy. He has served on various boards of the Rivers State Government.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority welcomes participants at the conference and others expected include airline operators, aviation handling company operators, suppliers, senior officials of aviation agencies, labour unions and other stakeholders in the aviation industry who will make their contributions and brainstorm on the issues under discussion.
