Airlines asked to employ more Nigerian pilots

 

The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers on Tuesday appealed to airline operators to employ more Nigerian pilots, instead of their foreign counterparts.

Isaac Balami, President of the association, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the association had observed that most operators no longer employ Nigerian pilots.
Balami urged the operators to apply the laws of Nigeria, adding that should the trend continue, the association could  picket such airlines.
According to Balami, it will be wrong for the airlines to access funds contributed by Nigerian tax payers in running their businesses and refuse to employ Nigerians.
"Some of the airline operators obtained up to N40 billion from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), to keep their airlines afloat.
"Against this background, it is very wrong and unacceptable for them not to employ Nigerians. In some East African countries like Ethiopia, no single foreigner is in charge of their airlines.
"The Ethiopian airline has the latest airbus (A380-800 model) in Africa. This aircraft is being flown and maintained up to D-Check level by Ethiopians.
"Nigerian pilots did the same during the Nigeria Airways era. Why should any airline discriminate against any Nigerian pilot?" Balami asked.
However, Mr Gbolahan Abatan, Chief Executive Officer of AirFirst Airlines, told NAN that Nigerian fresh graduate pilots were not being employed because they had no sufficient flight hours.
Abatan said that most of the pilots had 230 flight hours instead of between 500 and 700 flight hours required to fly certain categories of aircraft.
He called for more training for personnel in the aviation sector, noting that it was cheaper to employ a foreign pilot than retrain a fresh pilot.