Expatriates to Dominate Aviation Sector for Next 10 Years

The Nigerian aviation sector is dominated by expatriates engaged as pilots and engineers and it has been like that for decades. The situation will not change for the next decade unless Nigeria decides to train about 1,200 pilots yearly.

This claim was made by the Rector, Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, Mrs. Chinyere Kalu. She however disclosed that, the college would be graduating 800 pilots this year.
She said, the country has lost the young crop of engineers and pilots to better contracts overseas and there are no noteworthy efforts to boost the training of indigenes to replace expatriates.
The cost of training engineers and pilots in the sector is high, therefore, it is very expensive for families to fund the training of their children.
Her words: “Therefore, the states and local governments must have to develop a policy of providing scholarship to their youths to train as engineers and pilots. Our greatest challenge is high cost of school fees. Presently what we are charging as school fees is not even commensurate to the actual cost of training but because we are funded by the Federal government and our infrastructure is provided by the Federal Government, we can charge something cheaper. However, this cheaper school fee is very, exorbitant because it very high for an average Nigerian family to train their children.”
“To train as pilot, we are talking about N7.5 million, which is a lot of money.”
She explained that the N7.5 million was the cheapest one could get because overseas, well- known pilot training schools cost almost double of NCAT’s fees, adding that the International College of Aviation in Ilorin, cost much more.
“Our counterpart, the International Aviation College in Ilorin is charging N10 million and that N10 million does not include feeding and accommodation. Our own includes feeding and accommodation. Therefore, that is our main challenge. Many of them are eager to come but when it comes to paying school fees it becomes a challenge,” she said.
She called on government at all levels to invest in the sector, adding that air transport is significant to the development of every economy.
“So we need state governments, local governments to sponsor their indigenes so that these students will be trained. The Federal Government is really trying,” she said.
She decried the present situation were airlines spend so much on expatriates, and called on the government and airlines to finance the training of Nigerians so that in no distant future the country can capture the technical part of the industry.

“We have been sensitizing state governments and others to provide scholarship for the indigenes to come and train in the school. Many governors that I see I talk to them about it. The Governor of Imo state said he was going to send 100 students and we are looking forward to the coming of the students. Niger state government has given us 10 students and has provided facilities for us to start training in Minna. We have actually started training in that state right now,” she said.
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