L-R: Director, nafdac, Oyo State, Rev. Benjamin Haruna, representative of the Director-General of nafdac, Dr Musa Umar and Assistant Director, Ports Inspection Directorate, Mr Onah Sunday, at a workshop on safe and responsible use of veterinary medicines for South-West zone in Ibadan, yesterday. Photo: NAN

Airports Worldwide are
aiming for six billion passengers annually by 2030, a double growth from the present 3.3 billion.
President, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Dr Bernard Aliu told newsmen at the 70th International Air Transport Association (IATA), Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Doha, Qatar that the expected increase would be a result of passenger movement, which doubles every 15 years.
He said as the world celebrates 100 years of commercial aviation, there are indications that these targets would be exceeded in the next 15 years.
Aliu, a former Nigerian representative in ICAO who was elected president last year, said let me tell you that “globally the traffic is supposed to double by 2030. So right now if we are doing 100,000 flights a day, we shall be doing 200,000 flights a day by 2030, so there is a growing demand. That in itself is a positive thing because it ensures the contribution to economic and social development.”
The ICAO boss said the boost in air transport would come with challenges, noting that more infrastructures would be needed for airport operations in order to accommodate the traffic growth.
He urged member states to invest in infrastructure and pay more attention to safety, pointing out that as the number of flight increases there is the tendency that the number of accidents would also increase.
He indicated that safety issues be given priority attention, the number of accident that presently occurred in the world would be curtailed.
“Also we have to continue to pay attention to safety because increasing the number of safety should not be increasing the number of accidents.  As a matter of fact, we want to decrease the number of accident while the traffic is growing. That puts a lot of stress on government that it should know that the investment is the right thing to do in safe manner to ensure security,” Aliu said.
On the future of aviation after 100 years of commercial aviation, he said “the future for aviation is bright. You heard that the first commercial carried one passenger, but now we have three billion every year. That figure would double in 2030. Every 15 years the traffic figure has been doubling. That is the tremendous development that has taken place in the industry.”
According to him, throughout this period, starting from 1944, ICAO was put in place, the body has been guiding the industry by developing standard of recommended practices and policies that enable the industry to grow in safe, secure and sustainable manner.