[dropcap]M[/dropcap]anaging Partner Avaero Capital, Sindy Foster has said one of the reasons why Nigeria has negative investment attraction is the operating environment.

She spoke at the Olisa Agbakoba Legal webinar Repositioning the aviation sector in Nigeria for revenue generation and growth: The Role of Legislation.

Foster spoke on the Impact of Investment.

According to her, the operating environment should be fair to all to attract the right investments, not just Foreign Direct Investments but local investments as well.

She said,”One of the reasons why Nigeria has negative investment attraction is the operating environment.

Foster argued that those in charge should not shift the operational goal post for one against the other.

” ..Unless you are given a ‘leg up’ as we have seen in foreign entrants who look to the operating environment and decide that this doesn’t suit their business module.

“They can’t work with this so therefore they have to change the operating environment to suit them.

“Well, that is not fair competition and doesn’t take into account the domestic airlines who have been operating in this very difficult and often toxic environment.

 Updating Legislation:

She further stated that updating legislation should be something borne out of a need and not just because regulations have not been updated in a while.

Foster said that legislation should support growth whilst maintaining safety and should not negatively impact on operations.

According to her, legislation should focus on airline growth as without that, there is no industry.

Foster said,”We do not update legislation because you have not done it in a while.

“There needs to be a real reason why you are updating and which direction you are going in because the growth of the industry isn’t going to be there unless this growth is coming from the airlines.

“Ground handlers can’t sit at the Airports doing nothing. Airports are just warehouses without airlines.

“So we must bring back the focus on airline growth drivers and the impact of legislation and regulations on those.”

Foster also said that aviation business in Nigeria, cost of earning revenue is a huge factor that disenchants investors.

“Cost module which is one of the biggest problems you have got in Nigeria: how much will it cost to earn revenue opposite your input and operating cost and your productivity is going to drive your cost level and you have got specific limitations which impact your cost module,” she said.