The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Bates Sarki Sule says aviation plays a vital role in the economic development of any nation.

Sule who stated this in an address he presented at the commissioning ceremony of the company’s wharehouse at the Port Harcourt International Airport Omagwa, noted that aviation has facilitated global Cargo business to make the economic development become increasingly driven of operations.

The NAHCO boss said that with the current global cargo business, it is only air transport that offers the benefit of speed in the movement of large number of persons and goods from one point to another.

But business statistics on global air cargo show that cargo revenue went up from USD 40 billion in 2003 to USD 54 billion in 2008.

According to him, the statistic also forecasts on world cargo growth point to an average annual growth rate of 5.3 per cent to 6.9 per cent in the next 15 years.

“It estimated growth rate of 6.2% for the Africa-Europe Region. We are all optimistic that barring further slump in world economic fortunes, this pattern will be sustained,” he said.

On cargo trade in the country, the Chief Executive Officer of NAHCO noted that the Nigerian air cargo industry has a role to play in the figures that emerged from global air cargo traffic, noting that the quality of inputs that, the local sector makes depend on the level of services that aviation ground handlers can offer.

Sule however explained that NHACO providers Cargo handling services through customs bonded wharehouses in Nigeria’s four major international airports of Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt, adding that NAHCO has a responsibility to contribute to the provision of the right standard of facilities and infrastructure for the growth of aviation business.