‘FG Won’t Privatise NCAT’

The Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Oduah-Ogiemwonyi, has given an assurance that the Nigerian College of Aviation will not be privatised or commercialised as being speculated in certain quarters.

In a statement issued by her Special Assistant (Media), the Minister said “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 on the best way to achieve the goals for which NCAT was established are products of misinformation, reluctance to accept change and in some cases deliberate mischief”.

She explained that government was not contemplating either privatising or commercialising the only training school for pilots in the country, “rather the government is working to ensure that NCAT enters into collaboration/affiliation with reputable aviation training institutes outside Nigeria to boost the College’s capacity to produce manpower for the aviation industry.

Mrs Ogiemwonyi said that government was not satisfied with the situation where about 50 graduates were produced annually from NCAT from its five faculties.

According to her, “the dream of the present administration is to ensure that at least 1,500 graduates are produced from the college annually.

The attainment of this objective requires huge investment in equipment, faculties and expertise, which under the sole funding arrangement by government cannot be achieved”.

Under the planned collaborative arrangement, the 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 will pave the way for exchange programmes for students of the college. The exchange programmes will expose the students more to the industry’s international best practices and ensure synergy in course contents with the foreign technical partners.

The Minister said it was not true that any collaborative partnership with the foreign institutes would automatically raise the tuition fees beyond the reach of Nigerian students or that they would be affected by the admission policy.

She stated that the tuition fees would be maintained as government would not abdicate its regulatory responsibilities, adding that the economies of volume through higher students intake would more than make up for the desire to raise the tuition fees.