Nigeria taps into growing helo market

Because they can fly almost anywhere, helicopters can be used to transport large objects from place to place, to rescue people in hard-to-reach areas, like mountains or in rough seas, and from disasters such as fires, floods, and earthquakes. They can also fly over cities and provide reports on traffic.

Helicopters are also useful to the police for crime fighting and to the military for surveillance.

Apart from Nigeria’s security agencies and paramilitary organisations that use helicopters for their daily operations, there are a handful of Nigerian entrepreneurs who own helipads and helicopters strictly for private movement from place to place.

Nigeria’s Niger delta region harbours a lot of oil companies that use helicopters for their operations. However, there has been a gap in revenue generation for the Nigerian government due to an aged neglect of this revenue source as a result of the grey market nature of the sub-sector over the years.

It is to fill this revenue generation void that the Nigerian government recently gave a concessionaire, NAEBI Dynamics Concepts Limited, permission for the collection of helicopter landing levies at all aerodromes, helipads, oil rig platforms and other facilities in Nigeria. There are more than 250 such facilities in Nigeria.

Chief operating officer of NAEBI, Stanley Chike said the company was already making moves to re-fleet its equipment profile. There are investment opportunities for mobile radar tracking devices, body-worn cameras, and a fully-equipped control room amongst other support that will capture and relay data for helicopters flying in and out of Nigeria.

The special assistant to the minister of aviation and aerospace development on special duties, Christopher Omoaghe, said one of the challenges of the ministry is the provision of incorrect schedules and data as well as submission of falsified information by helicopter operators attempting to bypass the system. This is another investment opportunity.

Nigeria needs more private investors in the training of helicopter landing officers to augment the efforts of the existing government aviation training organisations in Nigeria.

The number of helicopters in Nigeria will continue to increase in the years ahead, considering the growing need for the equipment. Emerging technology comes with maintenance demands. Nigeria would require maintenance facilities as the helicopters continue to increase in number.

The director of operations at Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Matthew Pwajok, said helicopter maintenance is another area calling for investment in Nigeria. He also identified opportunities in the leasing of helicopters in a growing market like this.

Nigeria is approaching a food crisis due to insecurity in the farms that has dissuaded farmers from manual agricultural activities. A massive investment in agricultural tasks, such as crop spraying, seed sowing, crop monitoring, and pest control is required in pursuit of the needed volume of food for consumption in Nigeria.

Helicopters are also a useful support to the use of drones for crime fighting.

The rate of terrorist attacks, kidnapping for ransom and other crimes in Nigeria recently, requires that the government mulls the idea of localised production of fighter helicopters and drones, part of which possibly motivated the recent creation of a dedicated department for drones at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The regulatory body also has a motivation to drive investments in helicopter business.

The resourcefulness of helicopters helped the procurement of 12 attack helicopters for the Nigerian army by president Bola Tinubu in 2023.

Helicopters have also been useful to companies like Flying Doctors Nigeria, which has for years, provided emergency and medical services.

Some of the helicopter companies that presently operate in Nigeria include Odegene Air Services Limited (OAS), Caverton Helicopters, Bristow Helicopters, Alpha Helicopter Limited (AHL) and Aero Helicopters.