Scores of Nigerian pilots can’t ‘fly’

ABUJA - From childhood, Ijay Usifo had wanted to be a pilot. He nurtured the dream and after his graduation from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, where he studied mechanical engineering, he worked briefly and proceeded to a flying school in Florida, United States.

After 15 months, Usifo graduated as a young pilot and obtained the Private Pilot Licence and returned to Nigeria in early 2016 to get more training and experience.

He says he spent about $80,000 (N30.5m) within the one and half years and hoped to earn a decent living working for any reputable airline in the country. But, almost two years after, with no opportunity of at least a job interview, he says he is becoming frustrated and losing faith in the system he hopes to help grow.

Usifo explains, “I have always wanted to fly but it has been frustrating; you invest so much in yourself but the system doesn’t support you. It should be that when you train, you should come back and find something to do, no matter how little.

“It is capital-intensive to train as a pilot; it costs me a total of $80,000 to train in Florida; the tuition fee was between $70,000 and $72,000, then add the cost of living for about 16 months. It is not as if I haven’t tried, but airlines always have different excuses why these jobs are either not available or should not be given out.”

Like Usifo, Ibrahim Yusuf enrolled in the aviation school in February 2014, graduated a year and a half later and has remained unemployed since.

After several attempts to get jobs, Usifo and Yusuf have both moved on to other things; while the former currently works with his family business, the latter has gone ahead to take up an offer from an online retailer.

“Most unemployed Nigerian pilots end up relocating away from the country or getting into other ventures,” Yusuf says.

In a recent interview with The PUNCH, the Chief Executive Officer, Aero Contractors Limited, Capt. Ado Sanusi, said pilots were in short supply but in high demand.

However, the Rector, NCAT, Mohammed, recently stated that over 300 Nigerian pilots were unemployed.