Think-tank group chart path to tackling skills gaps in local sector

Worried by the yawning gaps in requisite skills across all facets of the local air transport sector, the Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), has laid a management plan through scalable skills acquisition, with technical, operational, and soft skills to encourage employees to adapt to new situations and deliver a winning customer experience across the sector.

At its 2024 Quarter One Breakfast Business Meeting (BBM), in Lagos recently, the think-tank group of top aviation professionals, had extensive discussions with recommendations for all aspects of the aviation value chain.

They noted that the mass exodus of aviation professionals out of Nigerian airlines, agencies and others, which is not peculiar to the country, is not a total depletion or loss for Nigeria. Rather, it should be seen as a further expansion of its formidable diasporan net worth.

In its recommendations, made available to The Guardian, the group, however, resolved that the aviation sector deserved a Local Content Development Board as applicable in the other important sectors such as in the oil and gas industry, to address the local content issues in the recruitment of aviation professionals.

As a primary consideration, the professionals called for an interagency or inter-Ministerial ad-hoc body comprising the Ministry of the Interior, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development to collaborate and ensure proper monitoring and compliance with Local Content Law on expatriate quotas and the excessive use of foreign personnel to fill manpower gaps in the aviation sector.

Besides, they urged an immediate review of the merger of the Licensing Directorate with Flight Operations at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in the interest of safety and in conformity with global best practices as recommended by the International Civil Aviation Authority ICAO.

The NCAA and industry stakeholders must look at resourcing and recruiting young professionals with the requisite education and training in aviation. This approach, as suggested, will address the discouraging experience where individuals have been trained and found no jobs.

The body expressed concern about the astronomical cost of training across the industry, which has gone beyond the capacity of ordinary citizens to fund, unlike what was obtainable in the past when there was a substantial amount of scholarships in the industry.

The ASRTI, therefore, called for the establishment of scholarship schemes from states and both public and private organisations for funding the training of a significant number of young people as well as providing for the continuous training and upgrade of professionals in the industry.

The meeting identified the need to urgently declare a state of emergency in the training of Airport Fire Personnel as revealed by the current capacity to deal with fire incidents. Also identified was the need to train additional air traffic controllers and Engineers, due to the substantial number of individuals approaching retirement with consequential huge gaps envisaged even in the near term.