The senate committee on privatisation has saluted Skyway Aviation Handling Company PLC (SAHCO) for its remarkable business progression in ground handling operations and adding value to the Nigerian aviation industry.
The committee made the commendation during its recent oversight visit to the company’s headquarters at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
Speaking during the visit, chairman of the committee and former governor of Abia State, Mr. Theodore Orji who led the team of both the lawmakers and the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) stated that despite the constraints, the company had been able to break even and take up responsibilities that are not theirs to provide excellent services.
Earlier, the managing director and chief executive officer, of SAHCO, Mr. Basil Agboarumi had expressed his appreciation for the visit saying there had been a lot of improvements since the last committee’s last visit.
He emphasised that SAHCO was founded from the ashes of the defunct Nigerian Airways and had gone through privatisation and it is currently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The chief executive stated that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, “SAHCO is a success story.”
However, he said it had not been easy doing business as sourcing for foreign exchange “has been a major challenge because aviation ground handling is about quality ground support equipment and unfortunately, they can only be sourced abroad and these need to be paid for by FOREX.”
Agboarumi said SAHCO is the first ground handling firm in Nigeria to bring in electric operated ground support equipment in the bid to going green as it is the case in the developed countries.
He said since the company was privatized and got listed on the stock exchange, its clients’ base had increased tremendously.
“This is a feat not to be ignored because post privatisation, nobody wanted to do business with SAHCO due to the decrepit equipment and demoralised staff. This has changed due to the massive deployment of state-of-the-art equipment and due remuneration of staff,” he added.
