MONDAYBUSINESS CEO INTERVIEW Why young pilots find it difficult to get jobs – NCAT rector
The Rector, Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, Kaduna State, Capt. Abdulsalam Mohammed, in this exclusive interview with editors speaks on developments at NCAT, the national carrier and sundry issues. Excerpts:
When you assumed office as the Rector at NCAT, what did you meet on ground and what reforms did you introduce?
Like you know, I have only been the rector for seven months. I was appointed in the middle of January this year. Things have changed compared to when I was there. My first job as a professional pilot was at NCAT. I was an instructor. I remember in 1977 when I graduated, only 88 students graduated. Right now we graduate in excess of 300 students every year. Then we had fewer schools and the intake was lower. We had just a hostel, now we have several hostels and a dedicated female hostel.
The school has expanded over the years. We have additional aircraft and additional schools have been established. NCAT Zaria is one of the few aviation training schools in the world that is a one stop training institution that offers training for pilots, cabin crew, flight dispatchers, air traffic controllers, aircraft maintenance and engineers and English language specialists for aviation language. We have aeronautical telecommunications engineers (they maintain the instrument landing systems, the radios, approach light etc at the airport), and we do aviation management courses now.
We offer diploma and post graduate diploma certificates in aviation management. We also offer entrepreneurship training and we are encouraging the government to use it for youths’ empowerment. We train on basic skills like electricity installations and maintenance, solar power installations, refrigeration system etc.
One of the challenges the school has been facing over the years which affects the duration of our flying courses is the aviation fuel on aircraft (AVGAS). It’s used on propeller aircraft. It’s different from what jet aircraft use. We use very little quantity compared to what the big commercial aircraft use. So the fuel marketers are not interested in bringing it. It’s scarce and quite expensive. It’s about three times as expensive as JetA1. Because of that the college, two years ago, decided to re-fleet the aircraft in the college with the those that uses JetA1. That will be easier on us and cheaper. The Federal Government approved we refleet with Diamond Aircraft from Austria. We’ve commenced the re-fleeting.
Also, the college is recognized by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), an agency of the United Nations and a Nigerian is currently its president. All the courses we offer are approved by ICAO. We operate to ICAO standards. We are a member of the Global Aviation Training, an arm of ICAO that looks at global training issues and standards. We are also in the process of being upgraded to a ICAO regional training centre of excellence. That is the highest achievement of any aviation training organisation. We’ve gone far with the process and we hope to achieve that status by the end of this year. When we achieve that, it will open up training opportunities for us because we will have international recognition to meet the training needs of not just Nigeria but other countries within the sub-region. The future is bright for the college.
We are also in the process of installing the B737 Next Gen flight simulator, which is the latest version. As you know, it’s a regulatory requirement for commercial pilots to do training every six months. Since the establishment of airlines in Nigeria, we never had this capability so pilots have always gone abroad to train. NCAT recognized this and decided to install that simulator in Zaria. Once it is installed, there would be no need for airlines using Boeing to send their pilots abroad for periodic training. It makes it easier and saves us some foreign exchange. We are also trying to introduce helicopter trainings for pilots. All along we have been training fixed wing pilots in the 53 years of the college. We recognise there is a huge need for helicopter pilots. They use them a lot in the oil and gas industry.
Why are Nigerians sending their wards abroad for pilot training? Even Kano State government not too long ago sent students on scholarships to Jordan in spite NCAT’s capacity and faculty?
I don’t know what informed the then government of Kano State to take that decision. But they do send students for us to train as air traffic controllers; aeronautical telecommunications engineers’ and we have trained them. Probably, the college didn’t have the capacity to train the number of people they wanted to train at the time hence their decision to take some abroad. Typically we limit our students’ intake to 20 per course. For most of the courses that we run, ICAO recommends we limit the class size to 20. Our students always excel anywhere in the world. I trained in Zaria and I have flown to all the continents of the world except Australia. In the days of Nigerian Airways, anyone trained abroad, if he gets hired by the NA is sent to Zaria for refresher. We were that recognised.
What’s your viewpoint on a national carrier? Should it be government owned or privately owned?
We have to learn from the mistakes of the past. Nigerian Airways collapsed because of government interference. It was 100 percent government’s so the government interference was huge. Government owned national carriers fail for the same reason. For a national carrier to succeed in Nigeria there must be little or no interference. The only way that will happen is through the public, private, partnership where government will have only a small number of shares and allow the private sector to drive it. If you can recall, Emirates is government owned and successful. But the top management staff are expatriates brought from elsewhere to manage the airline. The government is represent on the board but the managers are experts.
There is a need for a national carrier for Nigeria. I was the chairman of the committee on the establishment of the national carrier set up by the government about two years ago. We looked at it thoroughly. We interacted with those for and against a national carrier. But the majority was for it. The only way we can move aviation forward is through the establishment of a national carrier. The private airlines do not have the capacity required for the infrastructure changes that we need; the huge investments in training and establishment of facilities. Since the demise of Nigerian Airways, we have had private airlines but they haven’t been able to build the capability the Nigerian Airways had. In fact, they are still relying on what Nigerian Airways had and the people the Nigerian Airways trained.
We have large number of unemployed pilots. No one wants to employ them because they are inexperienced. But when you have a national carrier, all the people who are working in the private airlines will want to join the national carrier. This will free the other airlines to employ the several pilots that are unemployed. There will be a lot of employment opportunities. An airline drives an economy of a nation. You may not necessarily make money from the airline but you will make money from other areas that the airline drives - like tourism. Tourism is big and we have a huge population. If we have a national carrier, Nigerians are very patriotic. They will fly the national carrier. We saw that spirit in Virgin Nigeria. I flew for Virgin Nigeria and we saw how Nigerians accepted the airline. So there are great potentials. And you can also make money.
It’s only the national carrier with government support and guarantees that can be able to acquire the big new aircraft which up to now, Nigerian private airlines haven’t been able to access.
Someone told me that the president was excited about your report. But he is being discouraged which is why the project is dragging. Are you aware Mr. President is not as enthusiastic about the national carrier the way he used to be?
I don’t think that is correct. The government accepted our report and its being implemented. As we speak, the issue of the national carrier is in the 2017 budget. Setting up an airline is a lengthy process. It’s not like other companies where you approach the CAC, register a company and the next day, you are in business. Because what we recommended was a PPP, the ICRC requires that a transaction advisor has to be appointed. The government appointed one about three months ago. That transaction adviser will now identify prospective parties interested in investing in the national carrier. That is both the external technical partners and Nigerian investors. They will set up the team and present the composition to government. When that is accepted, they will start the process of registration at the Corporate Affairs Commission. By then you will know the shareholders. After that, they will start the process of acquiring the Air Operating Certificate (AOC), from the NCAA. Before you even get an AOC, you must get an Air Transport License (ATL). You will also need evidence of financial capability to do airline business. AOC takes about 90 days.
So setting a national carrier is time consuming but the process has started. It’s not that the president is having a second thought on the national carrier.
On the B737 simulator that is being acquired, why is it taking so long to have it in Nigeria?
As you know this contract is dollar denominated and it’s not that the money was given to the college. The college is government owned so we are funded free by the government. We did include the project in our capital project