Empirical analysis of the contribution of the aviation industry to the Nigerian economy

The study revealed the contribution of the Nigerian Aviation Industry to the National GDP of Nigeria. To this end we determined the performance of the aviation workers with regards to contribution to national GDP; determined the performance of the Nigerian labour force's contribution to the GDP and did compared the contribution per head of aviation workers to the aviation industry's revenue of aggregated product; we ascertained the aviation industry's percentage contribution to the National GDP and did forecasted the growth of the GDP, aviation industry and its workers' contribution to GDP. To achieve what we did we used secondary data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics from 1985 to 2012 for National GDP; aviation industry's contribution to the GDP; the annual estimates of Nigerian labour force; the annual estimates of labours employed in the aviation industry; the annual throughput and revenue in the industry. We were able to determine that an average aviation industry worker is more productive than an average member of the Nigerian Labour force as a whole. We found that the aviation industry's contribution to National GDP is very small, but noted that it contributes a lot towards ensuring the smooth flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria. We were able to forecast that the industry will grow at about 25.4% rate on annual basis. We also discovered that in the contribution of the Transport Sector as a whole to National GDP, aviation industry made the least contribution, while road transport made the most. Road transport could even make more if all the informal sectors of the road transport mode are accounted for. Aviation industry is great and serves as a great face-lift for the nation, however, it serves less than 10% of the population and contributes less than expected, judging from the capital investment involves in the sector. We therefore suggest that land based transportation and their associated systems should be upgraded and more attention should be paid to them.