AeroWest Summit: Obasanjo Canvasses Good Governance To Unlock Africa’s Tourism, Aviation Potential

…As Wright says Africa’s tourism future is in connecting investments and businesses

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has canvassed the importance of having good governance in order to have a thriving economy, with focus-driven aviation and tourism sectors.

Obasanjo made this intervention at the ongoing AeroWest Summit 2026 holding in Lagos, with the convener of the Summit, Ola Wright, who is the Chief Executive Officer of West Africa Tourism Organisation (WATO), noting that the future of Africa lies in connectivity and working together to create a thriving destination.

Speaking as Special Guest of Honour on the theme of the Summit: Financing Connectivity: Unlocking Aviation and Tourism Growth in West and Central Africa, Obasanjo disclosed that having good governance will go a long way to bring development and prosperity, which in turn will propel connectivity.

According to him, working in silos will not bring about the desired result; therefore, he called for partnership as the best model to unlock the potential of aviation and tourism sectors.

He noted that the problem confronting Africa is not lack of connectivity but lack of knowledge of what exists that is valuable to tourism. ‘‘We do not lack anything. We have it all.

‘‘The problem is you don’t even know what you have. If you don’t know what you have, how will you be able to keep it? One of the things that we have to take care of in Africa, in our own part of Africa, is the preservation of what we have.’’

The former President further stressed that connectivity is not lacking, disclosing: ‘‘So, what we lack is not connectivity. What we lack is how to bring that connectivity to life.

‘‘For aviation to fly, there must be passengers. For passengers to be available, there must be prosperity. For prosperity to exist, there must be a thriving economy. For a thriving economy to be there, there must be good governance.

‘‘So, if connectivity is what you want, how can you do that? he queried. The solution, he said, ‘‘We have to work together. We cannot work in silos.’’

While stressing the importance of collaboration, he said that aviation and tourism should complement one another, noting further, ‘‘We should see them complementing one another. We should see our culture in the same way. So, we have a lot to give to the world.’’

For aviation and tourism sectors to be sustained, he outlined a number of elements that should be put in place. This includes: training the personnel working in the sectors and the community as well on how to package their products, and how to react to visitors.

‘‘We need to teach ourselves, our community; we need to train people for tourism, on how to receive people, how to react, how to welcome and how to make them feel welcome,’’ he said.

Obasanjo also said, ” It is not only connectivity between tourism and aviation but connectivity between the people and the community and how to embrace each other. This is very important, as we have a lot to give to the world, but we must conserve what we have so that we can keep them and make them available to the people.’’

He said that there is a lot to be achieved if the people work together and have a better understanding of aviation and tourism, saying; ‘‘

While stressing that aviation and tourism are two sides of the same coin. He said the challenge is making the two (Aviation and tourism) work. ‘‘The challenge is how do we make the two sides come together, work together, and achieve the goal.’’

His parting shot was a charge to the convener of the Summit and the operators in the two sectors on the continuity of the Summit. ‘‘This Summit is the beginning, and it should not be the end. We should get it right.’’

The Convener of the Summit, Wright, in her opening remarks unveiled some of the attractions in Africa continent, noting: ‘‘Africa doesn’t lack destinations, attractions and good stories; what we lacked for far too long is connectivity and investment.

‘‘Our challenge is not simply creating attractions but attracting people to the attractions that we have created. The future of Africa’s tourism will be determined by connectivity, investments and businesses. It is time for us to tell our stories.’’

AeroWest Summit 2026 is a three-day event that has brought together operators and governments from across West and East Africa and other regions including Barbados and other Caribbean nations, to brainstorm and chart a pathway for bridging connectivity in Africa so as to unlock the huge aviation and tourism potential that is currently under-tapped.