THE Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) is among the agencies in the aviation industry that the Federal Government has listed for privatisation. This would consequently upgrade the college to meet world standards, especially with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements.
Currently, the college is facing many challenges such as dearth of planes for training students and inadequate facilities compared with what is obtainable in other aviation schools in the world.
Consequently, there is lack of indigenous pilots, which has made it certain that Nigerian airlines must employ expatriates at very high cost. It is also bothersome that even the ones trained in the college are not allowed to operate outside the country and even in the country with the certificates they obtained from the school.
According to industry experts, there is acute shortage of manpower in the aviation sector in Nigeria. They said airlines pay huge sums to hold foreign pilots in Nigeria as the demand for such expertise has risen tremendously in the world.
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the privatisation of the college is important, as the issue of mismanagement of funds and under-utilisation of scarce resources in the sector, which has led to huge wastage of resources and manpower potentials, would be reduced.
They see the privatisation as a good thing that will happen to the college, which would bring a turnaround to the school. They noted that privatisation would lead to the progress of NCAT.
Therefore, they emphasised the need for the privatisation of the college to improve and expand training of skilled manpower in the industry through the modernisation and equipping of the existing ones.
The Federal Government’s plans to privatise some of its enterprises, they further said, is in tandem with key components of the structural reform process and globalisation strategy in many economies.
Meanwhile, worldwide, several developing and transiting economies have embarked upon extensive privatisation programmes in the last decade as a mean of fostering economic growth, attaining macro-economic stability and reducing public sector borrowing requirements arising from corruption, subsidies and subvention attributed to unprofitable state-owned enterprises.
To the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah-Ogiewonyi, government was not contemplating outright privatisation or commercialisation of the college, but explained that the government’s plan was to ensure that the aviation college goes into collaboration/affiliation with reputable aviation training institutions outside the country under a partnership arrangement that will boost the college’s capacity to produce adequate and highly qualified manpower for the aviation industry and even export locally trained experts.
“While we do not question the right of any Nigerian to comment on the policy thrust of government, we however make haste to state that most of the commentaries regarding the government policy, going forward, on the best way to achieve the goals for which NCAT was established are a product of misinformation, reluctance to accept change and in some cases, deliberate mischief,” she noted.
She said the Federal Government was not satisfied with the prevailing situation whereby only about 50 graduates were produced yearly from the aviation college from its five faculties/departments.
However, the agenda of the present administration is to ensure that at least, 1,500 graduates are produced from the college yearly. Therefore, the attainment of this objective requires huge investment in equipment, facilities and expertise, which under the sole funding arrangement by government, may not be achieved.
Under the planned collaborative arrangement, foreign partners are expected to provide skilled manpower, training equipment and funds for the expansion of infrastructure and other facilities in the college.
The partnership would provide opportunity for exchange programmers for students in the college and the foreign aviation training institute(s). This will not only expose the students more to the industry’s international best practices, but also achieve synergy in course contents with the foreign technical partners.
And the fear that when it is privatised, only the wealthy can afford the fees, the minister said it was not true that any collaborative partnership with foreign institutes would automatically jerk up the tuition fees beyond the reach of the ordinary Nigerian or that Nigerian student applicants will be at disadvantage in the admission policy.
Contrary to this, she assured that the prevailing tuition fees would be maintained as government would not abdicate its regulatory responsibilities, adding that the economies of volume through higher student intake would be more than make up for the desire to raise tuition fees.
“The admission policy will further be liberalised and made more transparent to give every Nigerian student intending to pursue a course of study at NCAT equal opportunity.
“The present arrangement whereby admission policy is dictated by exigencies of quota system as a result of space constraint will no longer subsist as expanded facilities would give room for more student intake.
“The overall benefit to the industry and the nation will be increased, qualified manpower for both local and foreign consumption”, Oduah-Ogiewonyi added.
Despite all the many benefits that would be gained if the college were privatised, some stakeholders in the industry are kicking against it, vowing to do everything within their reach to stop the government from carrying out the plan.
Groups such as the Air Transport Senior Staff Services Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) described the government‘s plans as a “desperate move to shortchange the aviation sector through the privatisation and commercialisation options”.
The unions further described the act as “another attempt to plunder the sector for private ends,” arguing that it was totally unacceptable for government to consider commercializing a critical institution like NCAT, which was involved in capacity building for the aviation sector.
The group said that privatizing NCAT would end up like the untidy concession agreements in the aviation sector where the interest of Nigerians was not guaranteed.
“We are not going to allow this to happen in the aviation industry again. The history of privatization and commercialization of government enterprises in the country shows that the programme does not benefit the country but some individuals who are cronies to the people in power.
“Now, with an increase in the school fees at the capacity development arm of the aviation industry, it means we will have less Nigerians as pilots, air traffic controllers and aeronautical engineers, among other professionals in the industry. What you have is what the people in government want to achieve and these we will not allow them to achieve this time around,” said the unions.
Speaking on the privatisation of the college recently, former Rector, Captain Adebayo Araba had said, “there is this plan of privatisation and commercialisation of all the agencies, including this college. So some of the things we were doing before and relying on the government are going to be solely the responsibility of the college now”.
Araba added: “Maybe I should say this to you; the orientation the present administration is bringing to the college even to the ministry in total a bit different now.
“We are charging N7.5 million, about $50,000 for a pilot training. This N7.5 million we are charging is all-inclusive. That means accommodation and feeding. We are still going to maintain the status quo because if you look at the economy of this country how many families can really afford this amount?” he asked.
The former Rector who explained that the new plan to privatise the school was aimed at boosting the college’s mileage just as it applies to other government agencies, emphasised that it was a better way to go for government agencies. He stressed that it would enable the college partner with private investors both within and outside the country.
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