The federal government has been praised for splitting the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology into a multi-campus training institution spread across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones.
In a move similar to the carving of the Nigerian Law School into a multi-campus institution in 2001, with locations in Abuja (headquarters), Lagos, Enugu, and Kano, Yola, Yenagoa and Port Harcourt, the President Bola Tinubu Administration recently announced the splitting of the nation’s premier aviation training institute located in Zaria, Kaduna State, into a multi-campus training institution, in an apparent bid to ensure greater efficiency and wider national coverage.
An aviation stakeholder, Mr Ayo Gbeleyi, Chief Executive Officer of Agil Group (a travel agency), who spoke with the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday – Thursday, January 9 – in Lagos on the matter, argued that the decentralisation of the college would promote vibrancy in the aviation industry.
Interestingly, the Ondo State Chapter of the All Progressives Party (APC) had in a post on its official X account, on Wednesday, January 8, announced that Tinubu had split the college across the zones.
“President Tinubu has decided to split the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, Kaduna State, into six campuses,” the Ondo APC said, listing the campuses as Zaria (North-West), Yola (North-East), Ilorin (North Central), Akure (South-West), Osubi (South-South) and Ebonyi (South-East).
Lamenting that the training aspect of the Nigerian aviation industry “has been quiet for years and is lagging behind globally”, Gbeleyi added that the industry requires adequate human capacity development and improved technological skills.
“The aviation sector in Nigeria has been dull and quiet for years. What the president has done is to revive a particular sector and create more knowledge for people,” he argued.
“We are in six colleges in six different zones across the nation. That means we will empower different kinds of students to get knowledge, to get them equipped through training to fill the gaps in the sector,” he said.
On adoption and application of modern technologies in the aviation sector, Gbeleyi said that Tinubu has shed light into the aviation system, stating that the college should be well-equipped with modern technologies to meet international standards, as, according to him, a technologically-equipped college of aviation is crucial to the development of the aviation sector.
