The lush farms, smooth roads and large expanse of land covered in red sands combined to form a welcoming scene.

These distinctive attributes, coupled with the seeming harsh weather, were an obvious confirmation that my colleagues and I had arrived in Northern Nigeria.

Although our Aero Contractors flight touched down at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, MAKIA, Kano, the destination was the historic city of Zaria in Kaduna State.

The purpose of the visit was to attend the annual League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents, LAAC, training organised by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA.

Our host, the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, had provided two buses for easy transit. And before 11:30 am on Sunday, May 25, we had arrived in Zaria, which was bustling with activities, and settled into our respective accommodations.

Thanks to the college’s fabulous facilitators and comprehensive materials, the week-long training, which commenced the following day, broadened my understanding of the air transport sector.

Beyond the classroom sessions, the training also provided an opportunity for newsmen to speak to Dr Danjuma Ismail, the institution’s rector, who didn’t mince words when identifying the college’s challenges.

Mandate and reality

During the informative exercise, Ismail expressed dismay over the lack of infrastructure to cater to the teeming students and professionals coming to seek knowledge at the college.

The rector lamented that despite being mandated to boost the college’s revenue and make the institution financially independent, it would be impossible to accomplish these things without excellent classrooms and top-notch accommodation facilities that would attract individuals outside Nigeria.

Sharing his thoughts, he said: “This (infrastructure) is one of the challenges I face here. The mandate given to me is to reposition the college to make it financially independent, boost revenue and increase its impact in Nigeria and the whole of Africa. The college has the potential to serve all the training needs of the aviation industry and even attract participants from other African countries and outside Africa.

“Because some of the courses we run are in collaboration with the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, we have the potential to generate foreign exchange for the country. For instance, by the time our flight simulators start operation, we will be expecting more participation from Asian countries.

“Right now, both Nigerian and Asian pilots are queuing in Dubai waiting to attend flight simulation training. We have the facility here and will soon start operating it. By then, people will also queue here because the facility is scarce globally. This will fetch us a lot of foreign exchange.

“Right now, we are expecting some Egyptians. They are pleading with us to organise a programme for them on June 16 on instrument rating. They are controllers from Egypt who want to learn. Two months back, we trained some individuals from French speaking countries who wanted to learn aviation English.”
Limited infrastructure a limitation

Asked why it is necessary to have outstanding infrastructure, he said: “When we have the right infrastructure, we can attract these foreigners because our own charges are affordable when compared to other parts of the world. When you go to the United States and other places, people struggle to pay hotel bills because they are in dollars; when they come here, whatever they pay, they realise that it is very cheap, even though the charge for many of our courses are in dollars. To this end, one of the challenges I am facing here is the issue of accommodation. I think previous management of the college did not give that the attention it required or they were not so aggressive in terms of looking for developing critical infrastructure. For me and the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, we are working day and night to see how we can reposition this college. This is a simple challenge; it is not technical. It is just an issue of accommodation, which is limiting our intake. There are some infrastructures that are of critical need. One of these is befitting accommodation. Most of the accommodations are in a shamble or not in the correct shape. They can easily be renovated or upgraded. Another one is to have classrooms and facilities, especially technical facilities for the different types of courses. We need to continue to upgrade the system, cultivating new developments and new areas and that is why we need a lot of investments.”

Complaints

Ismail, who revealed that clients also complain about the college’s inability to meet their training needs, said: “We need to make the facilities truly look international. Some of these buildings are as old as the 1960s. We need to upgrade them to look modern. A student has a choice, especially those used to the international arena. When he comes here, he will respect us if he sees something of high standards. We have to modernise our buildings so that it can give us international status. We are in the process of upgrading our classrooms to international standards. We are upgrading our facilities and equipment to accommodate more. Some of our clients have a huge number of prospective students, but we have a limited number of people we can take, especially air traffic controllers. They are complaining bitterly that we cannot satisfy their training needs. We are working on a 3D simulator where we can take many people to be trained. Most of them require this training before they can be promoted to certain levels. We are going to have additional participation and when you have additional participation, you will have revenue.”

Dwindling workforce

On workforce and the need to put a permanent stop to the exit of the college’s talented professionals, he said: “Another challenge I encountered when I came in is that we have many staff leaving because of poor pay. Right now, we are the lowest paid among the aviation agencies. That is affecting our ability to retain staff. Most of our trained staff are leaving for greener pastures. Some of them have joined private airlines.

“What we intend to do is come up with a policy to develop our internal capacity. We are going to sign a bond. We are going to sit down with the NCAA to ensure that certificates granted to trained staff can only be used for NCAT training purposes. We do not want to give certificates, then they will go and work elsewhere. You have to stay here and work for us. We can not spend money on you and go elsewhere. These (signing a bond) are some of the strategies we are going to use. Also, we have approached the Salaries and Wages commission. I have spoken to them that the college needs to be given special considerations in terms of salary package so as to close the gap in the industry. This is exactly what the oil sector did at the Petroleum Training Institute. There is not so much of a gap in their salaries with the oil industry. And that is why they are able to retain their experts. We too need to be treated in that manner. For now, there is a salary disparity.”

Future

On his projections for the college between 2025 and 2026, he told newsmen that doing that would be difficult. Reason: he is trying to get financial support from government to transform the institution.

He said: “If I get the fund and we are able to increase capacity such as equipment and infrastructure, then I can make projections. I am struggling to get support from government for equipment and infrastructure upgrades. By next year, whatever we get and put in place, then we can talk about projections.”

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/06/cracks-in-nigerias-aviation-training-powerhouse-call-for-govt-attention/