Recently, the International Aviation College, Ilorin, Kwara State graduated its first students. In this interview with NKEM OSUGAWU, Captain Nuhu Abdulkarim, Rector of the institute, highlights how the school is closing the manpower gap in the aviation industry as well as how it impacts world class knowledge to students.

How did Kwara State government come to the decision to build this school and what inspired that decision?

As followers of aviation industry in this country,  we know there has been a dearth of professionals, not only pilots, but engineers and dispatchers. This is because we used to have only one organisation recognised which is the NCAT (Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria). For some time, they were not producing graduates. I have been in aviation for 32 years; I started young. I worked with Nigeria Airways and also worked at NCAT for about 12 years.

The Kwara State government under the leadership of the then Governor, Dr Bukola Saraki thought deeply that if you look at Kwara, it is uniquely placed to be a hub for aviation in Nigeria for goods and services to be transferred from here and Lagos and other sub Saharan Africa. Lagos is saturated with cargo and passenger movement. When you are coming into Lagos, all you are thinking is going to Port-Harcourt, or Kebbi.

Part of the then Governor’s dreams was to leave something here (in Ilorin) since this place is a hub. What do you need as a hub? You will need a cargo terminal. After that, who are going to manage it? You look at aviation professionals, we are not going to be producing only pilots; there are other professionals like engineers, dispatchers, loaders and others. The dream started in 2006.

After the processes of putting such an edifice, our doors were opened in January 2012 to pilots training initially; we had our Air Training Organisation Certification (ATO) by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). On January 23, 2012, our first students, these same students we are graduating, entered classrooms. Most schools would advertise 18 months, two years and you end up producing students or pilots in two and half years. We are lucky to have the most modern aircraft. When I say modern, it is in terms of easy maintenance.

The visioners of this college were advised on the aircraft type to acquire, the Governor approved the purchase of Diamond aircraft because they use JET A1 (aviation fuel). JET A1 is available in Nigeria and every airline that flies turbo prop or jet engine has access to JET A1. Our aircraft is equipped with two litres engines that use JET A1. We have a local company that supplies us with JET A1. We have modern classrooms.

How were you able to secure the partnership of Oxford Aviation Training College that has made its name known globally as a training organisation?

The then Governor looked at other schools all over the world to partner with, the choice for us fell on Oxford Aviation Training College, United Kingdom. Oxford is a renowned aviation college globally. I was a product there too. I have attended courses there too. Our entire curriculum is based on Oxford. We use Oxford books. Every time we have new intakes, we use Oxford books for the private pilot licence to commercial pilot licence. I am sure you have entered our library to see the classrooms, the curriculum is there.

The classrooms are equipped with modern teaching aids which are called computer aided instructions. The teachers, instructors teach with the guidance of the computer software from the Oxford. After that, the students go to the library and all they hear is the voice of the computer based training; the students will not hear the voice of their instructor. If you look at Ilorin, the weather is good unlike in the North. The airspace is free, we do not have too much traffic for now, and the terrain and climate are good for flying our kind of aircraft.

The instrumentation in the Ilorin airport, thanks to the Federal Government, we have the Instrument Landing System (ILS) that was recently calibrated by the Ministry of Aviation, we have the VHF Omini-directional Range (VOR,) etc. These crops of students that we are graduating have gone through all the basics of flying.

It will interest the whole world to know that when the examiner from the NCAA came to say that our standard is high and knowing that particular instructor who happens to be my boss where I was before, then it means that it is higher than in any other place they found in Nigeria. NCAA’s examination is 75 per cent pass mark but our local exam is 85 per cent. If you get 80 per cent or even 84 per cent, you’ve failed. So, every student that we present gets more than that 75 per cent.

All the students we presented, average class we have about 94 per cent to 85 per cent. The first Private Pilot Licence (PPL) we got was 90 per cent, one failure and one re-sit but the Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) we presented was about 100 per cent pass. If you look at the duration we are talking about, it is supposed to be 18 months. We graduated in 16 months with all the relevant requirements needed to have that licence, otherwise, the NCAA will not touch your script if we do not have the curriculum and the flying skills required to be presented. That is a plus.