The federal government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been urged to include Pilot training and aeronautic engineering students in the ongoing students loan scheme, due to escalating cost in the global aviation industry.
Chairman of a Lagos based aerospace and flight training agency, PPK Aviation International, Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, in a statement on Saturday and made available to newsmen in Lagos, said the call has become necessary, because Commercial Pilot License training fees now cost as much as $95,000 for Helicopter and $85,000 for fixed wings, including Multi-Engine and Instrument Ratings, CPL/ME/IR.
He noted that same training and certifications prior to the free fall of the Naira and rising cost of trainer aircrafts globally, the Commercial Pilot License, CPL, training in the United States of America, Canada and South Africa, was between $18,000 to $25,000 for helicopter and fixed wings, pointing out that over seventy five percent of pilots flying in Nigeria airspace, especially domestic flights, were either trained in the United States, Canada or South Africa, respectively.
Oghenesivbe further posited that pilot training is gradually becoming out of the reach of indigent students and poor families in Nigeria, due to high cost of training, and urged the Tinubu administration through the federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, to include Pilot and Aeronautic Engineering students in the loan scheme, so as to guarantee availability of new generation of proficient pilots and aircraft engineers for rotary and fixed wings corporate and commercial flights operations.
He assured that PPK Aviation International will officially take the plight of Pilot and Aeronautic Engineering students to the federal government, so as to provide partial or total funding of the huge cost of flight training, workout repayment plans, while partnering with commercial airlines and oil exploration multinational companies to provide automatic jobs for loan beneficiaries and repayment structured over a period of time.
“PPK Aviation International commends the Tinubu administration in Nigeria for establishing the student loan scheme. It will help a great deal to advance the education sector by assisting indigent students to accomplish their dreams.
“However, it appears that the federal government did not avert its mind to the all important aviation sector, which requires serious funding for survival.
“It is important to include pilot training and aeronautic engineering students in the ongoing loan scheme due to global rising cost of flight training, aircraft engineering and certifications.
“From zero to Commercial Pilot License training with Multi Engine and Instrument Ratings, CPL/ME/IR, now cost between N85,000 and $95,000 for fixed wings certification for Commercial Airplane, and Rotary certification for Helicopter, same goes for Aeronautic Engineering.
“Such students loans and funding, when approved, shall be remitted directly to designated or accredited flight schools where students can be trained, and thereafter return to any of the partnership Airlines to fly, and loans repaid to the federal government via commercial airline operators.
This arrangement is possible, and it will boost growth and pilots proficiency in the aviation industry. We shall drive this appeal to a logical conclusion by reaching out to the federal government through the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development.
“The commercial airlines and multinational oil exploration companies shall be involved to jointly partner with the federal government, so as to assist our future generation of young pilots and aircraft engineers, through the loan and/or scholarship scheme” the agency assured.
