Mr Owolabi Awosan, Vice President, Greater Washington Logistic cargo company, has called on domestic airline operators in Nigeria to buy cargo planes to facilitate the movement of cargo across the country by air. He said heavy cargo brought into the country by foreign airlines are distributed across the country by road.

He added that road transportation has many hazards especially for sensitive goods and perishables. He also said if airline operators in the country had dedicated cargo planes, most of such goods would be freighted by air. Adding that air cargo was relatively cheap, faster and safer but people lack the awareness to make use of the opportunity it creates.

According to him what many people are not aware of is that it is cheaper to send a kilogramme of goods by air than by road. For example, most courier companies charge 1,000 Naira for a parcel of goods that can be freighted by air for not more than 300 Naira, even if it is done through an agent.

He also said government should encouraged airlines operators to have dedicated aircraft build for cargo operations within the country. “There is no dedicated aircraft for domestic cargo distribution within the country. What we have most is the international airlines with big belly aircraft that are mostly operating cargo business here.

“The aircraft we use here are not big belly, we have big items that cannot go under the belly of our domestic carriers. So most of the items go by road. We use the domestic carriers to distribute items within the country while the international aircraft are used to distribute items outside the country.”

He urged the media to partner with cargo companies in the country to create awareness among the public. “Logistic is not about moving goods/items by road or sea alone, it is also about using the airspace which is safer and faster. “Nigeria is more into import than export, we are developing nation. It is now government is promoting our manufacturing companies, in a few years the country may start exporting good/items and there will be more goods/items to export.