Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
Despite not being a manufacturing hub for production or assemblage of vehicles or aircraft, Nigeria has raked in N100.65bn from the export of airplanes/helicopters to Ghana, analysis of Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics reports by Daily Trust has shown.
The report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), stated that Nigeria has in the three quarters of 2021 exported helicopters to Ghana with the commodity increasing the amount of money made in the manufacturing sector.
A breakdown revealed that in the first quarter, N71.1bn was realised, with N16.65bn made in the second quarter and N12.9bn in the third quarter.
The figure was an increase of over 60bn from what was realised in 2020 as the sum of N43.7bn was made in 2020. However, this was as a result of Ghana not purchasing the commodity in Q2 and Q3 of 2020.
A perusal of the documents indicated that the purchase occurred in two forms, one, is that the commodities were exported, on the other hand, it was re-exported.
According to the report in Q1, “The products that drove up manufactured products were helicopters of unladen weight exceeding 2000kg, which were exported to Ghana, at a value of N71.1bn.”
For Q2, “There were aeroplanes and other aircraft of an unladen weight worth N16.65bn exported to Ghana and cruise ships and similar vessels for the transport of persons or goods worth N10.59bn exported to Cameroon.
While Q3 stated that, “During the review period, aluminum alloys were exported to Japan (N14.2bn) and China (N5.4bn). Oil cake and other solid residues to France (N12.7bn) and helicopters were re-exported to Ghana (N12.9bn).”
On why Nigeria is an exporter of aircraft/helicopter, the Head, Public Affairs and International Relations of NBS, Mr Sunday Joel Ichedi, said this was due to the purchase of used aircraft by Ghana and in the case of re-exporting, the commodity was first brought into Nigeria if the contractor has a base in Nigeria that services the whole of West Africa.
“The export is in the form of a second-hand, which is when some of the aircraft are used in Nigeria, after a while it can be sold to Ghana, then it becomes an export commodity,” Ichedi noted.
“For re-export, this is when it is imported into Nigeria then Nigeria exports it to the final destination. On this occasion, the exporter has an office in Nigeria that serves West Africa as a whole, so it must land in Nigeria before onward movement.”
