Travel News

Some ideas arrive by way of a report, a policy document or a conference presentation. The more unsettling ones come from looking again at something that has always been there.

One such idea came to me recently in Akwa Ibom, where I had travelled with the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section on

 Business Law for a roundtable on unlocking

 investment in Nigeria’s tourism and hospitality industry. 

Kemi Afesojaiye and her team convened a discussion of unusual quality. I owe a further debt to the “11pm crew”, led by the learned silk Chief Emeka Ozoani and by Chineye Oragwu, who proved on the Friday night that the hospitality we had spent the day analysing is something Nigerians already practise rather well. I also came away with a new friend, Yomi, whose company I suspect I shall enjoy, though that is a digression this column cannot afford.

The room brought together people who understood the economics of tourism, the demands of hospitality and, above all, the difficulty of converting Nigeria’s considerable potential into propositions an investor can actually finance. Somewhere between the conversations about hotels, destinations, infrastructure and investment, I found myself returning to a question that has troubled me for some time:

Why have we been so slow to see tourism as a maritime opportunity?

Nigeria is a coastal country. It has a coastline of about 853 kilometres and, behind it, an extensive network of rivers, lagoons, creeks and wetlands. Its commercial capital takes its very name from the Portuguese word for lakes. The federal government has increasingly recognised marine tourism as part of the country’s blue-economy opportunity: the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has described marine tourism as a potentially significant contributor to economic development, and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has expressly identified tourism as one of the sectors within the national blue-economy agenda. For all this maritime vocabulary, Nigeria has no maritime tourism economy to speak of.

We are a maritime nation in the language of trade and a landlocked one in the imagination of leisure.

We have treated the water as a corridor, not a destination

For decades, the Nigerian maritime conversation has been dominated by cargo, ports, shipping, oil and gas, offshore operations, fisheries, security and logistics. These industries remain indispensable to the Nigerian economy. They also share an assumption: that the value of water lies in what moves across it or comes out of it. That assumption captures only part of what an ocean economy can be.

The global figures show just how narrow such a conception is. UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that international trade in ocean-related goods and services reached approximately $2.5 trillion in 2025, with services accounting for the larger share. Marine and coastal tourism alone generated approximately $725 billion in international services trade, making it the largest ocean-related service export.

The OECD similarly identifies marine and coastal tourism as the largest source of employment within the ocean economy, accounting on average for around 60 percent of ocean-economy full-time-equivalent jobs between 1995 and 2020. These numbers ought to rearrange Nigeria’s priorities. An ocean economy has three sources of value: what can be extracted from the water, what can be transported across it, and what people will pay to experience because of it. Nigeria has built institutions around the first two and left the third, the largest employer of the three, almost entirely to chance.

The cities that understand the value of water

Consider some of the world’s most recognisable destinations. London has built an entire urban experience around the Thames, a river that was for much of its history a working port and an open sewer. The Bosphorus remains one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and is, at the same time, central to Istanbul’s identity and tourism proposition. Singapore has turned its relationship with the sea, waterfront and maritime infrastructure into an element of the city’s commercial and leisure identity. The Maldives has converted its marine geography into a globally recognised tourism product, and Bali has done something similar with its coastline, culture and marine environment.

None of these places offers Nigeria a template to copy. What they offer is proof that the same body of water can be infrastructure, transport, landscape, culture and tourism simultaneously, and that the working harbour and the pleasure boat are complements rather than rivals. Nigeria has tended to see only the first two.

Picture Lagos on those terms. A visitor arrives to find a connected public and commercial ecosystem where today there is a scatter of jetties, drainage channels, industrial facilities and private developments. Carefully designed waterfront districts are linked by safe passenger ferries. Along them sit restaurants and floating cafés, small performance venues, maritime museums and galleries, waterfront markets and children’s educational marine parks. There are sunset and night-time cruises, fishing and culinary excursions, kayaking in controlled waters, marine festivals, floating venues for conferences and weddings and, where environmentally and technically appropriate, boutique accommodation and carefully regulated floating commercial structures.

None of these ideas is exotic. The extraordinary thing is how ordinary they have become elsewhere. Nigerians plainly have an appetite for leisure, so demand is hardly the constraint. The puzzle lies on the supply side: why does so much of Nigerian leisure infrastructure remain overwhelmingly land-based when some of our most valuable natural assets are aquatic?

What if the Third Mainland Bridge became part of a waterfront economy?

Take Lagos’s Third Mainland Bridge. Nobody sensible would propose turning a major piece of transport infrastructure into a shopping mall or compromising its engineering function. The more interesting question is whether the enormous urban ecosystem around the bridge and Lagos’s waterways could be deliberately planned as a waterfront destination.

Why should a bridge merely move people from one side of the city to another? Why should the areas around major water transport corridors not become gateways into a network of restaurants, event spaces, cafés, cultural attractions, marinas and recreational destinations?

A ferry terminal can be a destination in its own right, as the great railway stations of the nineteenth century became. A jetty can be the front door of a commercial district. A waterfront does not have to mean reclaiming land and constructing another tower; sometimes the most valuable infrastructure is the kind that allows people to experience what already exists.

At this point the blue economy becomes a question of urban planning. The OECD has increasingly emphasised the role of cities and regions in unlocking the blue economy, noting that water-related tourism and passenger transport are among the most prevalent blue-economy activities at the subnational level. For Lagos, a city whose growth has largely turned its back on the lagoon, this should be a serious planning conversation.

Why Nigerians are cautious about the water

The argument has another side, and it cannot be romanticised away. Nigeria has a safety problem on its waterways. The public perception of water transport has been shaped by boat mishaps, overloaded vessels, inadequate safety practices, night operations and, at times, weak enforcement. The federal government established a special committee in 2025 specifically to address recurring boat mishaps, and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) has acknowledged concerns around unregistered vessels, overloading, night sailing and non-compliance with life-saving requirements.

For tourism, this is decisive. Leisure economies are not built around places people believe to be unsafe. A Nigerian may happily spend an evening at a restaurant overlooking the water and still hesitate when asked to board a boat to reach it. That hesitation is an economic fact with a price attached: it shrinks the market before a single vessel is launched. Trust of this kind cannot be bought with advertising. It has to be designed into the product. Every serious maritime tourism proposition would therefore need to begin with a safety architecture: certified vessels, trained operators, passenger manifests, compulsory life-saving equipment, weather and navigation protocols, emergency response systems, regulated jetties, insurance, visible enforcement and clear standards for commercial and recreational operators.

NIWA’s recent initiatives are instructive. The Authority has expanded water-marshal deployment, introduced safety measures and distributed life jackets, while the Inland Waterways Transportation Regulations provide formal requirements concerning life-saving appliances and the authorisation of public events that may affect safe navigation.

Keeping Nigerians away from the water is no answer to the safety problem. The answer is to make the water demonstrably safe enough that people want to return to it, and to treat safety as part of the tourism product itself, much as airlines sell reliability as well as seats.

The problem investors understand immediately: uncertainty

Capital does not fear regulation. It fears uncertainty, and the distinction is the one the economist Frank Knight drew a century ago between risk, which can be priced, and uncertainty, which cannot. An investor can price a licence, a tax, a concession fee, an environmental requirement or a safety standard. What defeats the spreadsheet is doubt over who has jurisdiction, which agency must approve a project, whether the regulatory position will change halfway through development, or whether a waterfront

 investment made with one government will survive the next. Nigeria’s waterways already illustrate the difficulty.

The Supreme Court has affirmed the federal government’s exclusive control over activities on the nation’s inland waterways, including licensing and related regulatory functions, while state governments retain important responsibilities in areas such as urban planning, tourism, waterfront development and local infrastructure. See National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) & Ors v. Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) & Ors, SC/CV/17/2018, where the Supreme Court considered the respective constitutional and statutory spheres of authority over Nigeria’s inland waterways.

That legal and institutional structure need not prevent investment, provided the two tiers of government present the investor with a single door. What Nigeria needs is a coherent waterfront investment framework.

An investor contemplating a marina, floating restaurant, waterfront resort, passenger terminal or recreational facility should not have to navigate an institutional maze merely to discover who can grant the relevant approvals. That investor should know at the outset who grants the concession and who collects the fees; who regulates the vessel, the waterfront structure and the passenger operation; who approves the environmental impact, controls navigation and provides security; how long approvals last; and what happens when federal and state interests intersect or the administration changes.

These read like questions of bureaucratic housekeeping. In practice, every one left unanswered is added to the cost of capital.

The real opportunity may be smaller than we think

A further misconception deserves challenge: that maritime tourism means building another massive resort. The blue economy is usually discussed in language that suggests billion-dollar infrastructure: deep-sea ports, offshore energy, shipyards, massive terminals and industrial projects. Tourism works differently. A thousand small businesses can create a more resilient tourism economy than one monumental development, because their risks are spread and their owners are local.

The visible layer is a licensed fleet of small passenger boats, a network of waterfront restaurants and food markets, marine tour and cruise operators, heritage tours, cultural centres, fishing excursions, kayaking, diving, marine photography and floating event spaces. Behind it sits a second layer that is easy to overlook: local boat-building and boat maintenance, marine insurance, navigation technology, safety equipment, training schools and the hospitality trade that gathers around every jetty. Taken together, these businesses are the ecosystem itself, and it would be a mistake to regard any of them as peripheral.

NIMASA has itself argued that marine tourism does not necessarily require enormous capital expenditure and that small and medium-sized enterprises can capture significant employment and economic value within the sector. Here maritime tourism meets the broader philosophy of the blue economy, whose objective is to build an economic ecosystem around the sustainable use of the ocean, a more demanding ambition than simply monetising it.

Akwa Ibom poses the more interesting question

My visit to Akwa Ibom reinforced the point. The conversation there went well beyond tourism as sightseeing, to investment, hospitality, infrastructure, connectivity and the conditions necessary for private capital to participate. That is the correct conversation. Tourism becomes economically meaningful when we stop asking only, “What attractions do we have?” and begin asking, “What investable experiences can we build around what we have?” 

Akwa Ibom’s coastal geography, beaches, waterways, hospitality assets and growing connectivity provide precisely the kind of environment in which this question deserves serious attention. The State has itself identified tourism development and private-sector investment as part of its economic strategy, while improved air connectivity supplies another piece of the tourism infrastructure puzzle. The opportunity, however, is a national one. From Lagos to Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and other coastal states, Nigeria possesses a geography that could support multiple forms of maritime tourism. The mistake would be to think of these places merely as locations with beaches. A beach is an asset; a destination is an economic system, and the distance between the two is covered by transport, safety, regulation and finance.

Nigeria needs to learn to sell the experience of the water

A deeper cultural issue lies beneath all this. For much of our modern economic history, the Nigerian relationship with the water has been utilitarian. The water carries cargo, oil, fishermen and commuters. It is dredged, secured and regulated. It is seldom enjoyed.

The rest of the world has discovered that the water can also carry experiences. Tourism is, in the end, the commercialisation of experience, and few experiences are more universal than being beside, on or surrounded by water. The maritime-tourism opportunity therefore extends well beyond beaches and resorts, to the entire interface between people, water, culture, hospitality, transport, food, entertainment, heritage and nature.

For the same reason, environmental protection is one of the economic foundations of maritime tourism, and to treat it as an obstacle is to misread the balance sheet. The attraction disappears if the water becomes polluted, the coastline erodes, mangroves are destroyed or marine biodiversity collapses. Sustainability, in this industry, is asset preservation: the ecosystem is the capital stock, and tourism lives off its yield. UNCTAD’s work on the ocean economy makes precisely this connection: healthy marine ecosystems underpin the long-term value of ocean-based economic activities, including tourism.

The blue economy needs a blue imagination

Nigeria now has a Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. The language of the blue economy has entered national policy, marine tourism has been expressly recognised as an opportunity, and the institutional conversation has begun. The next step is harder. We need to move from blue-economy rhetoric to blue-economy products.

That means identifying specific waterfront

 investment zones, creating predictable concession frameworks, resolving regulatory interfaces, developing safety standards, building modern passenger infrastructure, opening selected waterways to properly regulated leisure activities, protecting sensitive ecosystems and giving private investors sufficient tenure and regulatory certainty to commit capital.

Most importantly, it requires the government to think like a destination developer rather than merely a regulator. Tourism is an industry of complements: nobody builds the restaurant until the ferry runs, and nobody runs the ferry until there is somewhere to go. Only the government can break that deadlock, which is why a general invitation to “invest in tourism” achieves so little.

The government should be able to point to a particular stretch of waterfront and say: here is the site, here are the rules and the concession period, here are the environmental framework, the navigation regime and the safety standard, here is the infrastructure and here is the approval process. Now build. That is how investment becomes possible.

The irony is that Nigeria may not need to discover a new natural resource in order to diversify its economy. It already has one, and has simply been looking at it from the wrong direction.

For generations, we have looked at the water and seen a route to somewhere else. Perhaps the next phase of Nigeria’s blue economy should begin when we learn to see the water itself as somewhere worth going.

The Nigerian government has announced plans to remove export bottlenecks and boost foreign exchange inflows into the Nigerian economy.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Abubakar Dantsoho, made this disclosure at an event in Abuja at the weekend.

He noted that Nigeria’s trade resilience required efficient infrastructure, predictable fiscal frameworks and seamless supply chains.

According to him, Nigeria’s economic resilience could no longer depend largely on imports and oil revenues.

Dantsoho explained that the recent approval by the Federal Government for the transfer of Inland Dry Port (IDP) management and development functions to the NPA would bring port efficiency closer to businesses operating far from coastal ports.

“By bringing Inland Dry Ports under the operational purview of the NPA, exporters in northern and central Nigeria, including right here in Abuja, no longer need to move raw commodities to coastal ports before undergoing port clearance and documentation.

“To our prospective businessmen and entrepreneurs, now is the time to embrace export trade,” he said.

Also speaking, the Director of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Agabaidu Jideani, called for stronger collaboration among government agencies and the private sector to facilitate trade, unlock investment opportunities and strengthen the link between Nigeria’s maritime sector and the wider business community.

“The efficiency, accessibility and competitiveness of Nigeria’s ports have direct implications for importers, exporters, manufacturers, distributors, logistics operators, retailers and numerous other businesses across our sectoral groups,” he said.

By Matthew Johnson

Following the 66th Nigeria Independence, Nigerians in the diaspora have been urged to put aside religious, ethnic and tribal differences and unite their resources and influence for the development of Nigeria.

The call was made in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, during a celebration organised by the APC PBAT-KOH Diaspora Group to mark Nigeria’s 66th Independence Anniversary.

Speaking as Special Guest of Honour at the event held at Labule, Pastor Tunde Bakare urged Nigerians to place their common national identity above religious and ethnic affiliations, stressing that Nigeria’s diversity should be seen as a source of strength rather than division.

Bakare, who reflected on his personal journey from Islam to Christianity, said the experiences of Nigerians across different faiths and ethnic backgrounds should strengthen the country’s sense of unity and shared destiny.

He urged Nigerians at home and abroad to resist tendencies that promote division, saying national development could only be achieved when citizens recognise their shared responsibilities to the country.

Also speaking, the Head of APC PBAT-KOH Diaspora, Mr. Gbolahan Gbadamosi, said Nigerians living abroad had significant resources, professional expertise and international networks that could be deployed to support development efforts in the country.

Gbadamosi stressed that the diaspora’s strength would be better utilised through structured unity, coordinated engagement and sustained collaboration with stakeholders in Nigeria.

He said: “The Nigerian diaspora possesses tremendous resources, expertise and influence. What is important is how we organise and channel these resources towards meaningful and sustainable development at home.”Gbadamosi said

His deputy, Mr. Adewale Jafojo, called on Nigerians abroad to become more actively involved in civic engagement and democratic participation, urging them to use their networks and relationships across the country to promote responsible participation in the electoral process.

Jafojo also urged members of the diaspora to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and other APC candidates in forthcoming elections.

The celebration hosted by Princess Tokunbo Omisore of the historic Ile-Ife Dynast brought together prominent ,younger and older Nigerians in the diaspora, combining cultural expression with discussions on national unity, civic responsibility and diaspora participation in Nigeria’s development.

The organisers said the gathering underscored the continuing connection of Nigerians abroad with the country’s history, culture and aspirations, despite the geographical distance from home.

Key Points

• Qantas plans to start selling tickets on its first New York to Sydney nonstop flight next August.
• The carrier is already planning to launch an even longer flight, between London and Sydney, next October.
• The Australian airline plans to use new Airbus A350-1000 ULR, or ultra-long range, jets that are equipped with an extra fuel tank for the marathon flight.

Qantas Airways plans to start selling seats on its first nonstop between New York and Sydney next August, with flights set to launch in 2028, as the Australian carrier fills out the details for another marathon route with a special Airbus plane.

The route will take about 18 hours, which puts it close to what is currently the world’s longest flight. The route that has that designation right now, nonstop service on Singapore Airlines from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Singapore, can top 19 hours.

But Qantas is set to take the crown next fall when it debuts nonstops between London Heathrow and Sydney that take about 20 hours. Flight times vary based on direction and time of year.

Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson told CNBC that the new flights come after strong demand for another ultra-long-haul route: its Perth, Australia, to London service, which is more than 17 hours and is flown on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

“What we have been able to learn from that is that there is absolutely a customer who wants this and is prepared to pay a premium for it,” she said in an interview in New York, adding that travelers are trying to avoid having to connect in other airports.

The Qantas Airbus A350-1000 ULR, which stands for ultra-long range, will be equipped with first class, business class, premium economy and standard economy cabins. Those aircraft have an extra fuel tank for the trip.

Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, operates its New York to Singapore flight with only business class and premium economy seats.

As part of its ultra-long-haul program, which it calls Project Sunrise, Qantas spent years working with sleep scientists to study jet lag. Hudson said the carrier has looked at ways to minimize the effects of traveling long distances by using things like different lighting schemes so customers can get used to the time zone at their destination.

While millions of Nigerians struggle to find affordable accommodation, some of the country’s most expensive homes are being acquired as investment assets, with some remaining unoccupied or underutilised. Experts say diaspora Nigerians are significant investors in Lagos’ luxury property market. However, most such properties are occupied, rented or used occasionally, making extended vacancy better described as under-utilisation than outright abandonment, CHINEDUM UWAEGBULAM reports.

For many Nigerians living abroad, buying a home in major cities such as Lagos has long been associated with returning home, securing a retirement residence or providing accommodation for family members.

But a different pattern is emerging in the country’s luxury property market. Some wealthy Nigerians in the diaspora are buying expensive homes in prime locations, leaving them largely unoccupied and holding them as investment assets while waiting for their value to rise.

The practice, variously described by industry operators as investment holding, property hoarding or speculative investment, is difficult to quantify because Nigeria has no comprehensive database tracking the occupancy status of luxury properties or the residence of their owners.

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Evidence from Lagos’ high-end property market, however, suggests that diaspora investment is an important component of demand for luxury housing, particularly in Ikoyi, Banana Island, Victoria Island, Lekki and Eko Atlantic.

The Guardian reported that demand from diaspora investors is helping to drive Nigeria’s luxury estate market, with developers targeting high-net-worth Nigerians living abroad with premium apartments and gated residential developments.

Northcourt findings last year showed that developers in leading markets, including Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, reportedly attributed 70-80 per cent of sales to diaspora clients. Knight Frank’s H2 2025 report on Abuja also highlighted high vacancies associated with expensive properties.

Estate Intel, however, has described diaspora buyers as a major source of residential demand, with greater activity in $40,000-$400,000 middle-income and deluxe properties than in million-dollar homes.

Estate Intel data cited by The Guardian showed that about 753 apartments priced at $1 million or more were under construction in Lagos, with much of the supply concentrated in the city’s most exclusive neighbourhoods. The figures point to substantial capital flowing into properties beyond most Lagos residents’ purchasing capacity.

A Nigerian living in London, New York, Toronto, Houston or Dubai may see buying property in Lagos as a way of maintaining a financial connection with home. The investment may be intended for retirement, children, family members or eventual relocation. Others see property as a tangible way of protecting wealth against inflation and naira depreciation.

For some buyers, immediate rental income may not be the primary objective. A luxury apartment purchased for hundreds of millions of naira may simply be held until its value increases sufficiently to justify a sale.

Nigerians earning dollars, pounds or other foreign currencies also have an

opportunity to deploy their earnings into a physical asset in Nigeria. The naira’s depreciation has further altered the relationship between foreign-currency income and local property prices.

From a developer’s perspective, Nigerians abroad represent an attractive market because they often have access to foreign-currency earnings and may be less dependent on local mortgage financing. The products marketed to them range from luxury apartments, waterfront residences, serviced developments, gated estates, to smart homes and properties with extensive facility-management services.

That creates what can be described as the “buy and leave” phenomenon: the acquisition of a property without immediate occupation or, in some cases, without putting it into the conventional rental market.

According to last year’s State of Lagos Housing Market report by the Roland Igbinoba Real Foundation for Housing and Urban Development, the phenomenon is a notable characteristic of Lagos’ luxury housing market.

The report stated that it contributes to a growing number of unoccupied luxury buildings in major Nigerian cities, even as a significant housing deficit persists among the general population. It attributed the trend partly to naira devaluation, which gives Nigerians in the diaspora greater purchasing power when acquiring properties in Nigeria, even when they do not intend to occupy them.

The report also noted that some investors were hesitant to return and occupy the properties because of security and liveability concerns, while real estate serves as a means of asset storage and transgenerational wealth transfer in Nigeria’s volatile economic environment.

It said the resulting paradox of unoccupied luxury units alongside a severe housing deficit points to a market driven partly by investment and asset storage rather than immediate owner-occupancy needs.

The phenomenon becomes more significant when viewed against Lagos’ housing shortage. The State of Lagos Housing Market report put the city’s housing deficit at approximately 3.4 million units, while more than 70 per cent of residents are renters.

For developers, however, diaspora demand represents a significant commercial opportunity. The Guardian has reported that luxury development in Lagos remains concentrated in areas such as Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki, while developers are increasingly exploring other locations where affluent buyers are emerging.

Developers argue that there is genuine demand for high-quality housing from Nigerians abroad who want modern properties with reliable power, security, parking, recreational facilities and professional management.

For diaspora investors, the decision is ultimately financial. A property that appreciates significantly may deliver a strong return even if it remains empty. But the calculation should also include maintenance costs, service charges, security, taxes, insurance, depreciation and income that could have been earned through responsible letting.

The Guardian’s reporting on Lagos’ housing market has repeatedly highlighted the mismatch between where property investment is flowing and where housing need is greatest.

For wealthy Nigerians abroad, buying a luxury home in Lagos may represent a long-term investment, a future family home or simply a way of maintaining a connection with the country. But when a property remains locked up for years, neither occupied nor rented, it becomes more than a home; it becomes an idle asset.

Industry experts, however, caution that not every vacant luxury property should be classified as speculative. A newly completed apartment may be awaiting a buyer. A diaspora owner may occupy the property during visits to Nigeria. Another may leave it vacant because of security, maintenance or concerns about tenants.

Estate surveyors say one way of making diaspora property investment more productive is to encourage absentee owners to place their properties under professional management.

The immediate past Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of WEMABOD Estate Limited, Yemi Ejidiran, told The Guardian that available evidence supports significant diaspora participation in Nigeria’s premium residential market.

However, he said it does not establish a reliable Lagos- or Abuja-wide percentage of diaspora purchases, owner-occupation or prolonged vacancy attributable to diaspora owners.

He explained that diaspora participation is commercially significant and may account for a substantial proportion of sales in some developers’ portfolios, but its market-wide share and the proportion of properties physically occupied by their owners remain unverified.

“A property whose owner lives abroad is not necessarily vacant. Conversely, a property described as ‘owner-occupied’ may function principally as an occasionally used second home,” he said.

According to Ejidiran, “Diaspora Nigerians constitute a significant source of demand in selected premium residential developments in Lagos and Abuja. Published industry reporting suggests particularly high participation in some developer portfolios, but available public data do not establish their citywide purchase share or owner-occupation rate.

“Some properties are retained for occasional use or wealth preservation; however, prolonged vacancy is also associated with pricing, tenant selection, building quality and affordability constraints. Diaspora purchasing power supports premium-market prices, alongside land scarcity, construction costs, infrastructure and domestic high-net-worth demand.”

The President of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Nigeria Chapter, Ayodeji Odeleye, also acknowledged that Nigerians in the diaspora are a significant force in Lagos’ luxury residential market and account for a substantial share of his company’s premium-market buyers.

He said the demand is driven by a desire to own an asset in Nigeria, preserve wealth and eventually return home. “However, ownership does not necessarily mean occupation. Many properties are bought as investments or future-retirement assets and often stay empty or are let out for much of the year.

“This is why professional property management matters. Diaspora owners need trusted managers to handle maintenance, security, tenancy and rent collection while they are away,” he said.

Odeleye, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Lagos Branch, said most diaspora-owned luxury homes are let out, either to long-term tenants or through short-let arrangements, making extended vacancy the exception rather than the norm.

“Where extended vacancy occurs, I would call it under-utilisation rather than outright vacancy. The owners of such apartments tend to visit a few times a year, or keep a flat in the property for family use or a future return. Some are reluctant to let because of concerns about security and property management in their absence, or because they prefer to hold the asset without tenants,” he said.

Odeleye said diaspora demand is one of the factors supporting property prices in Lagos’ prime areas, but is not the only driver.

“Listings are in naira, and very few buyers pay in foreign currency. Still, someone earning in dollars or pounds can afford much more at today’s exchange rate, and that shows most in Ikoyi, Banana Island, Victoria Island, Lekki and Eko Atlantic,” he said.

He emphasised that land scarcity, construction costs, infrastructure, security, as well as demand from local high-net-worth individuals, corporates and expatriates, also contribute to prices.

“As naira prices climb, the top end of the market becomes harder to reach for buyers who earn only in naira. The diaspora is part of that story, but the wider gap between the naira and foreign currencies is what has changed the market most,” he added.

The Chairman of the Association of Capital Market Valuers, Chudi Ubosi, said some Nigerians in the diaspora who return home regularly prefer to stay in their own properties rather than incur hotel expenses.

The estate surveyor and valuer, however, said diaspora investment in luxury locations such as Ikoyi, Banana Island, Victoria Island, Lekki and Eko Atlantic may not be as extensive as sometimes portrayed.

According to him, the high cost of properties in these locations can make some diaspora buyers reluctant to invest, particularly when they compare Nigerian property prices with those in their countries of residence.

He said, “The prices of properties here are actually easier for diaspora people to buy, no matter what, because of the favourable exchange rates. But despite that, the main market for properties in these locations is the local community. They form the most common buyers because they are used to these locations and appreciate that they are apex locations and that the properties are unlikely to get anything better.”

Summary

• British Airways will create a 106-seat business-class cabin on its Airbus A380s.
• First class will shrink from 14 to 12 suites, while premium economy will increase to 84 seats.
• Standard economy capacity will fall sharply from 303 to 215 seats.
• The move reflects airlines' growing focus on high-spending passengers and premium travel.

British Airways is building what it calls the “world’s largest” business-class cabin while removing dozens of economy seats, highlighting how airlines are increasingly betting their future on high-spending travellers.

The changes are part of a major overhaul of British Airways' fleet and ground services, including lounges at its London Heathrow hub.

British Airways will outfit its Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft, with a 106-seat business-class cabin, up from the current configuration of 97 business-class seats.

First class will also be refreshed and will include 12 suites, down from the current 14. Premium economy will expand to 84 seats from 55, while standard economy seats will be reduced significantly to 215 from 303.

The new Club World business-class cabin will occupy the entire upper deck of the A380. British Airways said the 106 business-class suites will feature sliding doors.

Airlines have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to expand premium seating, capitalising on demand for more spacious cabins and travellers' appetite for luxury experiences.

British Airways' joint-venture partner, American Airlines, recently introduced a 70-seat business-class cabin on its largest Boeing aircraft.

Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson also said customers are seeking high-end options on long-haul routes, including the airline's Perth-London nonstop service.

“There is absolutely a customer who wants this and is prepared to pay a premium for it,” she said.

Premium seats can command significant surcharges. Even extra-legroom seats on transatlantic flights can cost more than $200 per leg, while premium economy upgrades can exceed $1,000 after purchase.

Prices can be substantially higher when premium seats are selected at the time of booking, with top-end seats regularly costing $5,000 or more, and sometimes exceeding $10,000 on longer flights.

The growing complexity of premium cabins has even contributed to delays in new aircraft deliveries, as airlines have waited for parts and regulatory certification for elaborate new seats.

British Airways' decision to overhaul the cabins on its 12 Airbus A380s also represents a bet on the future of the jumbo jet. Many airlines have retired the A380 in favour of smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft.

Airbus delivered the final A380 to its largest operator, Emirates, in late 2021.

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