What NCAT Needs To Enable Better Performance, By Rector

The Rector of Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, Dr. Danjuma Ismaila has highlighted what the college requires to be repositioned and do better in the global aviation training market.

Speaking in an interview with aviation journalists yesterday at the college, Ismaila explained: “There are some infrastructure that are of critical need and these are infrastructure that will facilitate us to reposition the college. One of these is befitting accommodation. Most of the accommodation are in shambles or incorrect shape where you can present to say this is what we have. We can easily renovate them or upgrade them to the standard that we want to be.

Another one is to have classrooms and also have facilities, especially technical facilities for the different type of courses. There are demands for many courses by aviation professionals globally and locally. We need all of these facilities in place. Some of these facilities also need to be continuously upgraded. Even if you own the facility, it is not the end of it. We need to continue to upgrade the system, cultivating new developments and new areas and that is why we need a lot of investments. We need to make the facilities truly look international. Some of these buildings are as old as 1960s. We need to upgrade them to look modern. A student has a choice, especially the one that is used to international arena. When he comes here, he will respect us. We have to modernize our buildings so that it can give us international status. We are in the position of upgrading our classrooms to international standards. We are upgrading our facilities, equipment to accommodate more. Some of our clients have huge number of prospective students but we have limited number of people we can take, especially in terms of air traffic controllers. They are complaining bitterly that we cannot satisfy their training needs.

We are working on facilities like the 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. There are different types of simulators and all the simulators for every aircraft we have in Nigeria. We know that it is not going to be easy. No country tells you that they have all aircraft simulators. Emirates is there. They have selected the ones they want. It is business. You just don’t tie your capital on aircraft that are not popular for use. We are going to select the ones that are very popular in the country that you know that is in high demand. It is not that someone has Dash 8 and you go and bring Dash 8 and at the end of the day, after a month that you did not see anybody patronizing it, that is a waste of resources or tying down your capital. You choose the ones that you know are popular in our society or region. The B737 is the highest number of aircraft that we have and that is why we have flight simulator that is B737. I think by our own analysis, B737 is the popular aircraft that we have. CRJ is also coming up. If we can get support from government to get additional simulators for us, that will be ok. Let us start with this one to see how it is going to be accepted by the market, not only in Nigeria but globally. Once it is accepted, then, we can go for additional one.”

On making projections, Ismaila said “to project what you are going to have this year or next year is going to be difficult for me in the sense that I am trying to get support from government in terms of funding. If I get the fund where I now increase my capacity, that is when I can make projections but if now, I have increased my capacity to a certain number in terms of our equipment, in terms of infrastructure, I can see that I will get to so and so number. I am struggling to get support from the government so that we can build this equipment and infrastructure. By next year, whatever we get and put in place, then, we can be able to say, yes! that by so and so period, this is going to be our projection.”

He said “there were the low hanging fruits that were unattended to like the full flight simulator purchased about five years ago and still lying down not being put to use. I now set up a task force and I gave them three months to fix all outstanding issues. First, they are talking about licence or certificate by the NCAA and I was able to meet NCAA. I met the management of NCAA. I told them our predicament that the college has invested in this and that, in manpower development, training of our personnel and their personnel and we were able to achieve a lot. They have now agreed that they are coming upper week to come and start processing the certification. Hopefully, in a month or two from now, our simulator will be put to use. NCAA has the capacity to certify the simulator. We have trained some of their personnel. If they don’t have the capacity, they are at liberty to collaborate with their sister agencies. That is the essence of collaboration and partnership where you have a weakness and your partner assists you. Right now, we are not concerned about who is coming, whether them or their partners.”

On the current challenges of NCAT, Ismaila identified rising enrolment and infrastructure to cater for the students and other professionals as “one of the challenges I am facing here. The mandate given me was to reposition the college in such a way to make it financially independent and boost its revenue and also to increase its impact not only to Nigeria, but 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 other continents. The aviation industry is a global phenomenon and whatever you have here certified by the NCAA is equally the same thing with what you obtain in other parts of the world because you work based on ICAO standards and recommended practices. The standard being certified by the NCAA is the same standard being certified by UK CAA.” He added that NCAT has “opportunity to have participants from all over the world. Some of the courses we run them in collaboration with ICAO.  We generate a lot of foreign exchange into the country. We have the potential to generate foreign exchange to the nation.”

He stated that “by the time our flight simulators start operation, we are expecting more participation from Asian countries. Right now, both Nigerian pilots and Asian pilots are queuing in Dubai waiting for the period to go and attend the flight simulator training. We have it here and will soon start operating it here. By then, people will be queuing on our own side because it is scarce globally, and this will fetch us a lot of foreign exchange.”

He emphasized that accommodation is limiting NCAT intake. “For me and the Minister of Aviation, 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 issue of accommodation, limiting us for our intake. The college has another programme. Right now, we are expecting some Egyptians. They are pleading with us to come and organize a programme for them on June 16. One of our instruments rating wanted to have a training on that date. They are controllers from Egypt and wanted to learn. Some two months back, we trained some French speaking countries who wanted to learn aviation English only that we don’t have the right infrastructure that will attract them. When we put the right infrastructure in place, we can attract these foreigners because our own charges are affordable by most of these countries when you compare it with other parts of the world. When you go to US and other places, people are grappling to pay hotel bills because they are in dollars but when they come here, whatever they pay, they realize that this is very cheap even though many of our courses, we charge them in dollars,” said Ismaila.