After more than a decade without reasonable investment in the training of engineers for indigenous pilots and the aviation industry, about 127 pilots and aeronautical engineers sponsored by the Federal Government under the Niger Delta Amnesty programme returned to the country recently having completed training programmes that spanned more than two years.
According to Kingsley Kuku, Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Affairs, “the 127 aviation professions have been trained to the level that it would be difficult for any organisation to deride them as incompetent.
“The Nigerian government will take further steps to complete ‘on duty training’ for these pilots and aircraft engineers to make it difficult for any employer to reject them,” Kuku enthused.
This was coming as Captain Abdulmumin Abdulkarim, a pilot and current Rector/CEO of the International Aviation College (IAC) in Ilorin, Kwara State, told Daily Sun in a recent interview that there was “a huge challenge in the industry in terms of requisite manpower since no one was ready to commit the huge funds required to train pilots.
“Indigenous pilots were aging and there are no replacements since Nigeria Airways that was doing the training had been liquidated.
But for the government, the training of these 127 Nigerians remains a big plus to efforts to stem unemployment, fill the gap created by Nigeria’s aging and retiring pilots, end restiveness among youths in the Niger Delta oil-producing communities, boost crude oil production and thereby increase government’s revenue.
The Federal Government spent between N8 million and N10 million to train one pilot, an indication that it must have invested about N1.25 billion in the training of these aviation professionals.
Despite the ongoing reforms, Nigeria’s aviation sector is still faced with severe unemployment challenges. It is estimated that Nigeria currently has about 200 qualified pilots without employment.
However, while the return of the 127 has elicited such excitement, especially within government circles, it has also,  propped up some curiosity as to  where the jobs for these highly trained professionals would be seen.
An aviation enthusiast who assessed the government amnesty programme for the Niger Delta aviation professionals recently voiced his concern. “Where are the airlines that will employ them and where are the airplanes they will be flying?”
The worry stems from the fact that Nigeria’s aviation sector is undoubtedly dominated by foreign airlines, that rely mostly on pilots, engineers and cabin crew from their home countries and may not be willing to employ Nigerians, despite raking in billions of dollars in revenue yearly flying in and out of the country.
Observers had argued that a viable national carrier for Nigeria would have created over 200,000 direct and indirect jobs and positively impacted GDP by up to $10 billion in the years ahead if one were already in place. This is even as the few domestic carriers are facing extinction due to harsh operating environment and financial constraints.
Above all, the absence of aircraft maintenance facilities in the country, the unfavourable government policy of granting multiple entry points to foreign carriers into Nigeria, unfriendly business environment where operators grapple with multiple charges, high cost of fuel and inability to access cheap loans aggravate the situation.
Noggie Megison, a captain and President of the Nigeria Professional Pilots, confirmed the presence of many unemployed Nigerian pilots, noting that government was not offering the right form of assistance to allow domestic carriers stay afloat.
Also speaking, Chris Aligbe, a renowned industry analyst, also puts the blame for rising number of unemployed indigenous pilots on the doorsteps of government whom he holds responsible for failing to bring on board a functional national carrier.
“You can’t engage your youths sufficiently if you allow your industry to be dominated by foreigners as it is happening in the airline business,” Aligbe said.
“The bulk of the pilots we have in the industry today were trained and employed in those days when Nigeria Airways was still in operation. We need a national carrier to create the jobs,” he added.
Thus, analysts are rather apprehensive that keeping a group of highly skilled manpower such as the 127 pilots and aeronautical engineers from such volatile region of the country idle could further spell doom for the nation if the unemployment crisis in the aviation sector is not speedily sorted out. Indeed, inflexible is the skill of a pilot; they don’t seem to function better in any other sector except to fly airplanes.
Therefore, if the government amnesty programme was to discourage youths in the Niger Delta region from violence by encouraging them to come out of the creeks and embrace education, what if those without jobs among these aviation professionals opt to return to the creeks out of the frustration of unemployment?
Abdul Ningi, a Senator and Deputy Leader of Nigeria’s upper federal legislative arm said the best solution to the unemployment crisis in the aviation sector lies in the enactment of a Local Content Law akin to what is obtainable in the oil and gas sector.
“The National Assembly is considering a revolutionary local content regulation for Nigeria’s aviation industry,” said Ningi.
“When passed into law, it would make it mandatory for both domestic and foreign airlines operating in the country to set aside a certain number of indigenous pilots and engineers that they would engage. The proposed bill has become imperative as one of the ways of creating an avenue for Nigerian aviation professionals to get jobs in the aviation sector, which is currently dominated by expatriates,” Ningi added.
The idea of a local content bill for the aviation sector is one, which the Presidency would fancy. According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Aviation, Captain Shehu Usman Iyal, the Federal Government would do anything to collaborate with the National Assembly to ensure that pilots and aircraft engineers type-rated after their training from the amnesty programme are absorbed in the aviation sector.
“That (the legislation) will be excellent. In fact, in places like Malaysia, Indonesia they have specific rules and regulations where any operator that comes in must employ an indigene of that country as a co-pilot or trainee engineer to understudy the expatriate pilot or engineer,” said Iyal.
“So, it is an excellent idea and I can assure you that Nigerian pilots, engineers and technicians have what it takes to fly or work on any machine from any part of the world.
“The President is concerned and that is one of the areas we are looking into and we are going to work with the Special Adviser on Niger Delta and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme to look into that,” he added.
How soon or how fast that bill is put together and made to become a law is what no one can tell but certainly not within the next two or three years, and so many analysts continue to hold the fear that if Nigeria’s crude oil production capacity has grown from a meager 700 barrels per day to 2.7 million barrels per day owing to the success of the Niger Delta amnesty programme, it serves the interest of no stakeholders in the Nigerian economy any usefulness churning out highly competent manpower under the amnesty programme into a market with no jobs for them.

AMNESTY :Anxiety heightens as job prospects for 127 pilots, engineers dim