Business
Domestic Airlines Parade 50 Female Pilots – NCAA
As a way out of poaching its manpower, the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has taken seriously the investment in the hiring, retraining and training of female pilots in order to increase the number of such category of staff in their service.
A statement from the Head, Public Relations Department of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Sam Adurogboye and made available to aviation correspondents recently explained, that the airlines, aviation personnel training institution, the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and International Aviation College Ilorin (IAL) have a total of 50 female pilots, in a male dominated industry.
With this growing trend among operators, an end may be in sight over the issue of poaching of staff by rival operators or seeking of greener pasture or better condition of service that are more prevalent in the middle east or Europe, the statement emphasised.
According to the statement, available statistics put the NCAT at the top with its 11 female pilots, and it is followed by the Bristow Helicopters and Calverton Helicopters.
The domestic airlines like the Arik have on the trail six female pilots, Air Peace has five, IAL has three and the Pan African airline also has three.
The fast-growing med view airline also has two for a start while Aero Contractors, 13y Air Ltd and Gyro Air each has one female pilot in their employment respectively.
“Out of these fifty female pilots, forty-four are Nigerians, while the remaining six are nationals of their countries. Two United States nationals, two Canadian, and one each from Cuba and Morocco”, the statement explained.
Aero Contractor airline had in 2009 achieved such a feat, when it operated and all female flight crew on the 1st of April on the same year.
Corlins Walter
Business
Agency Gives Insight Into Its Inspection, Monitoring Operations
Business
BVN Enrolments Rise 6% To 67.8m In 2025 — NIBSS
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said that Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments rose by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to 67.8 million as at December 2025, up from 63.5 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
In a statement published on its website, NIBSS attributed the growth to stronger policy enforcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the expansion of diaspora enrolment initiatives.
NIBSS noted that the expansion reinforces the BVN system’s central role in Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive and digital identity framework.
Another major driver, the statement said, was the rollout of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative, which allows Nigerians in the diaspora to obtain a BVN remotely without physical presence in the country.
A five-year analysis by NIBSS showed consistent growth in BVN enrolments, rising from 51.9 million in 2021 to 56.0 million in 2022, 60.1 million in 2023, 63.5 million in 2024 and 67.8 million by December 2025. The steady increase reflects stronger compliance with biometric identity requirements and improved coverage of the national banking identity system.
However, NIBSS noted that BVN enrolments still lag the total number of active bank accounts, which exceeded 320 million as of March 2025.
The gap, it explained, is largely due to multiple bank accounts linked to single BVNs, as well as customers yet to complete enrolment, despite the progress recorded.
