Nigeria’s Maintenance Repair and Overhaul MRO sector is experiencing growth with new facilities, expanded approvals and wider aircraft-type authorisations, yet the entire MRO sector still struggles to meet even 20 percent of existing maintenance demand. This was the central warning delivered by Chairman of 7-Star Global Hangar, Isaac Balami, who stressed that collaboration failures remain the single biggest barrier preventing the MRO sector from scaling.
Balami was a panelist at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria National Aviation Conference (FNAC 2025). He opened with a direct assessment of the nationwide capacity challenge facing the MRO sector.
Nigeria’s MRO Sector Space
“Today, with the new MROs coming up, with what Seven Star Global Hangar is doing, with our authorisations, over 20 aircraft types, Air First, Aero Contractors, ExecuJet, and so on and so forth, AeroTac in Abuja. If all of us are busy with the capacity we have, we cannot meet up to 20 percent of the industry demand.”
He stated that despite increasing investments in tooling, hangarage and manpower, the MRO sector continues to face the same persistent obstacle.
“Yet, the cost of investing in tooling, hangarage, equipment, getting special tools, authorisations, certifications, manpower development, there’s poor collaboration.”
Balami explained that the MRO sector globally thrives on shared tooling and resource pooling. Regulators everywhere recognise that no MRO can own 100 percent of required tools, but Nigerian operators often work in isolation.
“If, for example, I need 10 special tools to carry out a seat check on a 737… you can get a minimum equipment, and then you can loan or lease when the needs arise, because they are quite expensive.”
Instead of operating the MRO sector as a cooperative ecosystem, he said operators duplicate equipment unnecessarily.
“Instead of 7 Star, for example, and the second MRO, collaborating on tooling… we compete instead of complementing each other.”
This lack of synergy is costing the MRO sector millions in avoidable expenses.
“So instead of spending a million U.S. dollars to equip a particular aircraft… we have to spend up to five million U.S. dollars. Why? We’re not complementing each other.”
According to Balami, the MRO sector is far from saturated and still presents massive untapped opportunities.
“It is still a blue ocean. It’s not a red ocean yet, but we fight with each other, and that is a major problem.”
While the MRO sector remains underutilised, Nigeria continues to lose over $1 billion annually to offshore maintenance. With the current exchange rate, this capital flight now approaches ₦1.5 trillion, even though the MRO sector has the potential to create over 25,000 jobs across Africa.
Balami said the continent must take responsibility for strengthening its MRO sector, rather than depending on external help.
“Nobody will leave his or her continent and come and build Africa for us.”
He highlighted that Nigerian training institutions already produce some of the world’s best technical personnel who contribute significantly to international airlines.
“The quality of training from the Aviation College Zaria or Ellorin in Kwara or what the Air Force is doing in Enugu… is top notch.”
“Out of 20 Air Force from Zaria, over 60 to 70 percent of us are working with foreign airlines.
However, these same professionals face systemic barriers within the local MRO sector.
“But when you come back home, you struggle.”
Comparing international support systems to local realities, Balami noted that the MRO sector is more efficiently supported in other regions.
“When Seven Star went into the U.K., within three weeks, we took over the second largest aircraft hangar… Funding is there.”
Locally, he said the MRO sector struggles with financial access.
“Locally here, it is difficult to actually access funding… you cannot access funding.”
He urged airlines to work more closely with indigenous companies to strengthen the MRO sector and reduce capital flight.
“If we work with each other, if we trust each other, we can actually achieve a lot.”
Isaac Balami University of Aeronautics and Management
As part of long-term transformation, Balami said 7-Star Global Hangar is expanding its facility while addressing the deepening manpower gap in the MRO sector and wider aviation industry.
“In the next 10 years, we need 29,000 pilots and 31,000 aircraft engineers to meet up with the demand of Africa alone.”
To address this, he highlighted the establishment of the Isaac Balami University of Aeronautics and Management.
“When you are graduating, you are not just finishing with the NCAA licence, also with the European licence so you can fit in anywhere in the world.”
Balami concluded firmly that the future of the MRO sector must be built by Africans themselves.
“We have to do it ourselves. Nobody will do it for us.”
