NAHCO to expand agric export, begins equipment overhaul

The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc has revealed plans to expand its agricultural export business following growth prospects in the sector.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NAHCO, Mrs Tokunbo Fagbemi, said the handling company planned to spend N3.6bn on equipment as part of the expansion.

“The export business is actually growing especially agric export, which is one of my passions because the potential is large; we are trying to expand our processing area. Most of our processes are governed by treaties signed by security regulations. So what we do is go back,  look at all these processes and run our warehouse the best way we can,” she said.

Fagbemi said the planned state-of-the-art equipment and technology would enable NAHCO to improve on its offerings to its clients, adding that NAHCO had recently invested about N1.9bn in equipment.

She stated that the overhaul would help to replace ageing equipment which had increased maintenance cost due to high utilisation of fuel.

Speaking on the company’s planned ‘facts behind figures event’ at the Nigerian stock exchange on Tuesday (today), she said NAHCO’s revenue in 2018 was about N9.8m, which she said grew over 2017 when operating costs went up by about 19 per cent while administrative costs went up by 27 per cent.

She said, “Looking back on why our operating cost appreciated, we have ageing equipment which means higher maintenance cost, high utilisation of fuel where fuel prices went up especially diesel which was mostly used from 2017 to 2018, making it a major cost.

“We also work in an environment that is highly challenged, if you recall in 2017 or 2018 there was a time when baggage attendants went on strike because the environment wasn’t conducive enough to work. The need essentially is to employ more people to compensate for that infrastructure challenge.”

She stated that when she took over the management of the aviation handling company, one of the key considerations for her was to review its business at every point in time.

“It is important for a business like ours to go forward. We cannot plan to move forward if we do not know where we are,” she added.