Rejoinder: “Kano First Air” is a vision, not a reward for perfection – Muhammad Sanusi Kiru

Every major public policy initiative inevitably attracts scrutiny, and that is both healthy and necessary in a democracy. Constructive criticism strengthens governance by exposing weaknesses, improving policy design, and promoting accountability.

However, Kano cannot afford to allow its long term development agenda to be dictated by those whose opposition is driven less by objective analysis than by entrenched political partisanship. History has shown that some critics oppose virtually every bold initiative, regardless of its potential merit, simply because it originates from a government they do not support. Such reflexive opposition neither advances informed public discourse nor serves the collective interest of our people.

The true test of any public policy should be its economic viability, strategic value, governance framework, and capacity to improve the lives of citizens, not the political identity of those who conceive it.

​It is against this background that the article titled “Kanoline First: Why Kano Must Fix the Basics Before Flying Kano First Air” must be examined. While it presents itself as a thoughtful policy critique, it ultimately advances a false dilemma by suggesting that Kano State must first perfect every existing public institution before it can legitimately establish an airline. That argument cannot withstand either historical evidence or sound economic reasoning.

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No nation, state, or successful enterprise has ever waited until every existing sector achieved perfection before embarking on transformational investments. Development is neither linear nor sequential, it is simultaneous. Responsible governments repair today’s deficiencies while investing in tomorrow’s opportunities. Infrastructure, institutions, and economic catalysts must evolve together, not one after another.
​If we accepted the article’s logic, no government would establish a university until every primary school attained world class standards. No state would build a modern teaching hospital while rural primary healthcare centres still lacked equipment. No nation would invest in a railway because some roads remain riddled with potholes.
Progress has never depended on perfect conditions. It is driven by strategic investments that create the wealth, confidence, and momentum needed to improve every other sector.

​The suggestion that Kano must first demonstrate competence through Kano Line before contemplating an airline reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of transport economics. Road transportation and commercial aviation are separate industries governed by entirely different regulatory, technical, operational, financial, and governance frameworks.

​Airlines are not glorified bus companies. They operate under some of the most demanding regulatory standards in the world, supervised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the International Civil Aviation Organization, aircraft manufacturers, international insurers, aircraft lessors, and global safety auditors. Their operations are driven by uncompromising safety standards, technical compliance, financial discipline, and internationally accepted best practices.

Consequently, the performance of a state owned road transport company has little or no bearing on the viability or safety of a professionally managed airline.
​Equally flawed is the assumption that a state supported airline must inevitably inherit the bureaucratic shortcomings of traditional public institutions.

Experience around the world demonstrates precisely the opposite. Governments routinely establish successful aviation enterprises by insulating them from political interference through independent boards, professional management, transparent procurement systems, and strategic private sector participation.
​Nigeria itself offers compelling evidence. Ibom Air remains one of the strongest rebuttals to the claim that government backed airlines are destined to fail. Established by Akwa Ibom State to improve connectivity and stimulate economic growth, the airline has earned a reputation for operational reliability, punctuality, profitability, and sound corporate governance because it was deliberately structured to operate commercially rather than politically.

​Similarly, Cross River State’s Cally Air demonstrates how sub national governments can leverage strategic partnerships with experienced aviation operators to promote tourism, commerce, and regional development. More recently, Sokoto State’s Caliphate Air initiative further demonstrates that governments increasingly recognise aviation as a strategic economic asset capable of stimulating investment, improving regional connectivity, supporting cargo logistics, and creating employment. If states with relatively smaller economies can embrace aviation as a development strategy, there is an even stronger case for Kano, whose commercial history, population, industrial base, and international market reach are significantly greater.

​International experience is even more compelling. Across Africa, governments increasingly recognise that aviation is not merely a mode of transportation, it is a strategic instrument for economic transformation, trade, tourism, investment, and regional integration.
​Ethiopia provides perhaps the continent’s strongest example. Rather than treating aviation as a peripheral public service, successive governments deliberately positioned Ethiopian Airlines at the centre of the country’s economic strategy. Today, Ethiopian Airlines stands as Africa’s largest, most profitable, and arguably most successful airline, transforming Addis Ababa into one of the continent’s foremost aviation hubs while supporting trade, exports, tourism, investment, and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
​Rwanda has pursued a similar strategy through RwandAir, deliberately using aviation to transform Kigali into a regional hub for conferences, tourism, commerce, and foreign investment. Although Rwanda is considerably smaller than Kano in both population and economic size, it recognised that connectivity is a powerful engine of economic competitiveness.
​Kenya has likewise leveraged Kenya Airways as a strategic national asset, using Nairobi as East Africa’s principal aviation gateway for trade, tourism, horticultural exports, and international business.
​North Africa offers equally compelling examples. Morocco has strategically expanded Royal Air Maroc to establish Casablanca as a major gateway linking Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, while Egypt has consistently leveraged EgyptAir and Cairo International Airport to reinforce its position as one of Africa’s foremost commercial, tourism, and logistics centres.

​The lesson is unmistakable. Governments do not invest in aviation because every other sector has been perfected, they invest because aviation itself accelerates economic growth, facilitates trade, attracts investment, expands tourism, creates employment, enhances regional integration, and strengthens economic competitiveness.

​The real policy debate, therefore, should not be whether Kano deserves an airline. Rather, it should focus on how Kano First Air should be designed to ensure long term commercial viability. Should it operate under a Public Private Partnership model with reputable aviation investors? What equity structure would best protect public funds while attracting private capital? How can legislation guarantee an independent board insulated from political interference? Which fleet acquisition strategy, such as leasing, outright purchase, or mixed financing, offers the greatest sustainability? Which passenger and cargo routes would generate the strongest commercial returns? What governance safeguards should be embedded to ensure transparency, accountability, and operational excellence? These are the questions that deserve rigorous analysis rather than simplistic comparisons between buses and aircraft.

​It is equally important to clarify that advocating Kano First Air does not necessarily imply establishing a wholly government owned airline. Modern aviation increasingly relies on Public Private Partnerships, strategic equity investments, management contracts, and operational alliances with experienced aviation companies. Kano’s role could be that of a strategic investor and facilitator rather than a day to day operator. Such a model would substantially reduce financial exposure while maximising professional expertise, operational efficiency, and investor confidence.

​Kano’s economic fundamentals present one of the strongest business cases for aviation investment anywhere in Nigeria. As one of West Africa’s oldest commercial centres, with an international airport, a large population, a vibrant manufacturing sector, enormous agricultural output, and centuries old trade links across West and Central Africa, Kano possesses the market fundamentals capable of sustaining a commercially viable passenger and cargo airline.

​Few Nigerian states possess Kano’s unique combination of population size, industrial capacity, agricultural production, strategic geographic location, and regional commercial influence.

These enduring comparative advantages provide a compelling foundation for a sustainable aviation enterprise capable of serving not only Kano State but the wider Northern Nigerian and West African markets.
​Improved air connectivity would stimulate exports, strengthen agro allied logistics, attract foreign and domestic investment, promote tourism, create high value employment, and deepen Kano’s integration into continental and global value chains.
​No serious advocate proposes launching Kano First Air recklessly. The proposal is for an airline founded on rigorous financial modelling, strict regulatory compliance, sound corporate governance, professional management, commercial sustainability, and complete transparency from inception.

​Ultimately, postponing transformational investments until every unrelated governance challenge has been resolved is not prudence, it is a prescription for permanent stagnation. Societies do not become prosperous by waiting for ideal conditions, they become prosperous by building institutions capable of transforming their economies.
​Kano deserves efficient road transportation. Kano deserves stronger public institutions. Kano deserves modern rail infrastructure. Kano deserves world class healthcare and quality education. And Kano deserves a professionally managed, commercially viable airline that reflects its historic position as Northern Nigeria’s commercial gateway and one of Africa’s great commercial centres.

​These aspirations are not mutually exclusive, they are complementary pillars of sustainable economic transformation. Visionary governments do not choose between solving today’s problems and investing in tomorrow’s opportunities, they do both.
​Kano First Air is therefore not a reward for perfection. It is an investment in progress, a catalyst for economic growth, and a bold statement of confidence in Kano’s future.

​History will not remember those who argued that Kano should wait. It will remember those who had the vision, courage, and foresight to prepare Kano for the future.

​Hon. Muhammad Sanusi S. Kiru, FCIA (Majidadin Kiru)
Former Commissioner of Education, Kano State