Key officials that participated in the Uganda – Nigeria Trade and Business Summit in a group photo
Uganda Airlines will make its maiden flight to Lagos, Nigeria on October 19, 2023 and the excitement about this new strategic route is building up.
Lagos is just one of the new routes the national carrier intends to popularize during the final quarter of 2023.
During the Uganda – Nigeria Trade and Business Summit held at Protea Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday, Jeniffer Bamuturaki, the Uganda Airlines CEO, said the operation to Lagos creates an air bridge to West Africa that breaks a cross-connectivity pattern that impedes swift interconnectivity in East Africa.
“Africa is underserved in terms of Air transport at only 22%, and connectivity by Air has become more expensive on the continent. Regionally, the connectivity between the West and the East is still minimal; usually, we look as far as the Middle East to connect with West Africa. Uganda Airlines is here to answer this call of duty and hereby brings its commitment to the fore to start its service to Lagos, Nigeria.Minus our service, it takes a minimum of 10 hours and 15 minutes to connect from Entebbe to Lagos,” Bamuturaki said.
She added: “Our service, lasting just 4 hours to Lagos, addresses an existing need and will be a catalyst to unlock the immense potential of a market force of over 220m people for collaboration as well as opportunities between the two countries. From oil and gas, agriculture, investments, tourism, textiles and now music, Uganda Airlines offers the air bridge to immense possibilities.”
The Airline has positioned its state-of-the-art equipment on this route, the A330-800neo, with 258 seats and 36tons of cargo space.
She said the equipment is tailored to provide a superior and memorable onboard experience.
“ It has also offered competitive fares for its connectivity across Africa,” she said, adding that the schedule of the flight will be 3 times a week: Monday, Thursday and Sunday.
Speaking at the same event, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for Uganda, Elsie Attafuah, said 40 Ugandan women entrepreneurs will fly with Uganda Airlines on its maiden flight to Nigeria so that they can “go and open doors” for business.
Attafuah noted that for the bellies of the aircraft to go when they are full, there is a need to build capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) so that cargo from Uganda to Nigeria becomes one of the airline’s cash cow.
The Minister for Works and Transport , Gen. Katumba Wamala, the Lagos route is highly necessary.
“I congratulate the over 10,000 Nigerian diaspora in Uganda who, for the first time, are able to visit their loved ones with this direct flight,” Katumba said.
He added that the operation opens opportunities to Ugandans in oil and gas, agriculture, education, and tourism which will transform these sectors because Nigeria has a big economy of over 220m people whose aviation and airline sector is already developed. The country’s GDP is estimated at about US$ 441 million.
“The Nigerian market is also very ripe for our exports, such as manufactured goods, fish, chili, cassava, coffee, wheat, fruits and vegetables; our traders should be ready to take on these opportunities,” he said.
The Minister said full-blown expansion requires that the airline invests in equipment suitable for these routes and that his Ministry is looking into that in the shortest time.
He said the choice of the route was based on research.
“The route is commercially viable,” he said..
While it is hard to point to specific areas Nigeria and Uganda have been trading in before, the Nigerian Business Community in Uganda say there is a lot of potential.
Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Ismail Ayobamai Alatise, said that his dream of having breakfast in Nigeria is going to be possible with Uganda Airlines’ direct flight to Lagos. The flight is expected to take 4 hours.
“We are here today to promote trade between Nigeria and Uganda, to promote robust collaboration between business communities. We are committed to reducing barriers to trade and investment,” he said.
According to Seye Ogunrotimi, a Nigerian businessman in Kampala, Nigeria imports nearly 90% of everything on its market.
For instance, he said Nigeria imports powdered milk from the United States of America. He said less than a kilogram is sold at 4, 000 Naira. He adds that fresh milk imported from the Netherlands is sold at 3,800 Naira. He says once Uganda’s milk crosses to Nigeria, the Pearl of Africa has an upper hand. He says 95% of Nigerians have not tasted fresh milk.
“Ugandan milk already has an advantage in Nigeria,” he said.
He appealed to Ugandans to package tomatoes as well.
“It has a longer shelf life,” he said adding that tomatoes on Nigeria market comes from the Northern part of the country and takes 18 hours to reach Lagos by road. With the introduction of Uganda Airlines, he said tomatoes from Uganda will reach will Lagos before those in Nigeria.
On Irish potatoes, he said : “Your Kabale Irish potatoes will sell like wild fire.”
The other area he said is worth exploring is fish feeds. According to Ogunrotimi, Nigerians grow fish at home. However, he said that fish feeds from Israel are very expensive. He appealed to Ugandan entrepreneurs to look into that direction as well.
He, however, appealed to Ugandan business people to consider local partnerships in Nigeria. Otherwise, he said it may be a little harder to breakthrough on the market in the initial stages.
According to Hajjia Mohammed Hauwa, the Chairperson of the Nigerian Community in Uganda, if Ugandan business people must consider exporting powdered milk into the Nigeria market, the water content in it has to be dried further. She said Nigerians do not like water in their milk.
She added that instead of exporting coffee into Nigeria, Nigerians would rather be trained on how to drink coffee. Otherwise, she said beans will not work for Nigerians but good soluble coffee works for them.
On tea, she said not just any tea will work in Nigeria. She said Nigeria imports bagged tea.
