Chief, Barrister, Festus Egwarewa Keyamo CON, SAN, the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development. He is also a Nigerian lawyer, columnist and human rights activist. In April 2018, Keyamo was appointed as the Director of Strategic Communications of the 2019 re-election bid of late President Muhammadu Buhari and later appointed Minister of State for Labour and Employment.

Keyamo was born on 21 January 1970, at Ughelli, a town in Delta State, Southern Nigeria but his father hails from Effurun, a city in Delta. Keyamo had his primary education at Model Primary School and secondary education at Government College, Ughelli, where he obtained the West African School Certificate in 1986. He later proceeded to Ambrose Alli University at Ekpoma, in Edo State southern Nigeria where he received a Bachelor of Law degree in 1992 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in December 1993

He began his legal career in 1993 at Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers in Lagos State. After he spent two years at Gani Fawehinmi’s chambers, he left to establish Festus Keyamo Chambers.  He was counsel to the leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples’ Volunteer Force, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari in his trial for treasonable felony and lead counsel in the treason trial of Ralph Uwazuruike, the leader of the Movement For The Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

Keyamo was also a counsel in the murder of Bola Ige.  In 2008, he took the Federal Government of Nigeria to court over illegal appointments of service chiefs.

In 2017, Stephanie Otobo, a Canadian-based singer and stripper, accused Apostle Suleman Johnson, through her lawyer Festus Keyamo, of failing to keep a marriage promise made to her after allegedly having several sexual relationships with her.

Chief Keyamo was among those nominated as ministers of the second administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. After his nomination, he was equally screened by the senate. Until 24 September 2019, Keyamo was the Minister of State, for Niger Delta Affairs, before he was redeployed to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment by President Muhammadu Buhari barely a month after his initial appointment on 21 August 2019. Following several calls from some political commentators as to why he didn’t make both the first and second ministerial lists, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu forwarded Keyamo’s name to the Senate on 4 August 2023 as a ministerial nominee for confirmation. He was made minister of aviation and aerospace development by President Tinubu on 16 August 2023.

As Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Barr. Festus Keyamo, SAN,  has driven significant regulatory and infrastructural transformations to modernize the Nigerian aviation sector. His key achievements span clearing massive debts, boosting international compliance, and facilitating direct foreign investment to lower ticket prices and expand local airline capacity.

Some of the key achievements

• Clearing Trapped Funds: Keyamo negotiated and cleared over $850 million in trapped foreign airline funds. This successfully removed Nigeria from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) watchlist of debtor nations and restored global investor confidence.
• Cape Town Convention Compliance: He vastly improved Nigeria’s compliance index with the Cape Town Convention—rising from 49.5% to 75.5%—which makes it significantly easier for domestic airlines to lease and finance modern aircraft.
• Empowering Local Operators: He facilitated dry-leasing agreements and partnerships with global manufacturers like Boeing to drastically improve local fleet acquisition. He also championed Air Peace’s historic direct Lagos-to-London route, which broke foreign airline monopolies.
• Infrastructure Overhaul & Dispute Resolution: Keyamo successfully resolved a long-standing land dispute with the Jiwa community, allowing the construction of the critical N81 billion second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to proceed. He also oversaw the successful relocation of international flights to the newly completed Terminal 2 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
• Enhancing Aviation Safety: Under his watch, the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) was restored. He integrated original Thales of France systems to grant full, uninterrupted radar coverage and installed Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS) on incoming planes.
• Promoting Aviation Education: He championed the operational expansion of the African Aviation and Aerospace University (AAAU) in Abuja, positioning Nigeria as the regional hub for specialized aviation and meteorology studies. Industry Recognition

Awards and Recognitions

Keyamo was named by the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), Nigeria in July 2017 as one of the outstanding Nigerian lawyers to be awarded the rank of SAN. He served in Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet. Keyamo and others named on the 2017 SAN-list were inaugurated into the elevated league of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) in September 2017. The same year, 2017, Keyamo was also awarded the Global Human Rights Award by the United States Global Leadership Council in Washington for his efforts over the years in respect of protection and promotion of human rights and campaigning for accountable governments in Nigeria. In 2023, the late president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari bestowed on Chief Keyamo and 338 others the national award of honour for meritorious services to the nation.

Few weeks ago, his sweeping regulatory reforms were recognized at the continental level when he was appointed the African Champion for the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) $7 billion Integrated Aviation Transformation Program.