In this interview with aviation correspondents, the chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Nogie Meggison, among other things, said that the federal government’s directive that cockpits of airlines operating in the country should be manned by Nigerian pilots will create jobs and take a lot of unemployed people off the streets. IME AKPAN reports
What is the AON’s position on the Federal Government’s directive that Nigerian pilots who hitherto were not gainfully employed should be given jobs aboard all aircraft flying in Nigeria?
It is something that has been in my heart. Before I became chairman of AON, I was the grand patron of Association of Nigerian Unemployed Pilots, numbering close to 300 today. It is something we have pushed and we have spoken to all our members. It is only fitting that when you are taking something from the society, you should also give back to the society. It is only logical and mutually benefitting and makes more sense when any airline operating and taking from the government create avenues to create jobs for the people. It is not a novel idea that Nigeria is standing alone to say that any cockpit operator or anybody flying in Nigeria is expected to take Nigerians in the cockpit. This will create jobs and take people off the street. A country with 180 million people, you can count the number of people flying.
As they say, one in every four black men is a Nigerian. Why can’t we have one in every four African aviators to be a Nigerian?
If you take the position today, you will probably be talking of one in every one hundred aviator out of Africa to be a Nigerian. And I think it’s a policy that is good and welcome that government has to roll back the clock to get people to contribute and not just take out of Nigeria. Whether you are a Nigerian registered, you are a Nigerian operator, or you are a charter operating in Nigeria, you should give back to the society.
How many members of the association of unemployed Nigerian pilots are we looking at that will likely benefit from this initiative?
As of today, we have about 327 unemployed pilots who are registered and looking for jobs. The minister said there are 90 airplanes and private jets operating in Nigeria with foreign registrations. If you take that alone, there are two sets of crew per airplane. So if you even say 90 – and we are saying it is about 140 or 190 but he says 90, if you take two per airplane immediately, that is 180. If you take the helicopters-there are maybe 50 or 70- and each is manned by two local pilots, that is 100 or 140. It is a regulation that is also being enforced in China, Egypt, India and Brazil today. I gave an instance in one of the meetings and said there is a foreign investor that invested in the United States and they went to buy 100 QF350s and put in Global Express 12.
The American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the American government told them the investment is welcome. The company is called Wheels Up. They were welcome but were told not to bring any staff. All the Wheels Up Pilots and technical services and support are Americans 100%. So it is not the investment. We cannot say because you are bringing in an aircraft valued at $30 million that you should not create jobs. You should give us something back and if you can buy an airplane for $30 million, what does it cost to train a Nigerian?
The federal government went further to say that airlines are henceforth directed to provide a list of professionals they will be training before they are given AOC in terms of air traffic controllers, cabin crew, aircraft engineers and pilots as one of the ways operators can add to manpower development. As the chairman of AON, don’t you think this is asking too much from airline operators?
It is a two edged sword, in the sense that if we are making something from Nigeria then we should create jobs, else, we are going to have an atmosphere in which we are going to have armed robbers all over the place. If you really look at all these issues even from the Niger Delta down to the North East and Boko Haram, all these things are really a secondary effect of unemployment. So to create this employment everyone wants, we want to play our own part and that’s why we are committed and should the government do what they are expected to do, we will create 2, 000 direct jobs in one year; we can create almost 300 jobs for pilots from the numbers I gave you immediately. I am not talking about the technicians, dispatchers or engineers; these are direct skilled jobs that they can go out and become ambassadors tomorrow.
And for the indirect jobs, aviation is not a standalone industry; it is not just about flying a plane. There is catering to go with it; there are tyre builders to build the tyres, there are maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) to go with it.
Airport environment management too will get jobs from it. So if we do this, in the next one year at least we will create 20,000 jobs in aviation alone. And if you look at the long term benefits in four years we should be looking at 50,000 jobs. Today, Emirates employs 420,000 people. But they have been able to take aviation up to be a spin for employment generation and their target for 2020 is 750,000 people. Aviation can create that much. Nigeria has no excuse to be the pivot. We are the centre of Africa and this should be the melting pot for aviation on the continent.
Some stakeholders in the industry believe that this particular pronouncement is targeted at certain individuals in the country. Do you see it as such and what would be the benefit of this pronouncement to the aviation industry?
I don’t think anyone is being targeted. As the chairman of AON, I was invited into the committee that was looking into this thing. And I advised them not to throw the baby away with the bathwater. As it was said, we have 90 airplanes currently flying. We can use these 90 airplanes to create jobs but at the same time, these 90 planes should pay tax to the government and also create jobs for the people. We welcome foreign investors but it is not an overnight thing like the minister is saying. He is giving target dates and he is giving upstarts. People should comply. Nigeria is not a dump site people; don’t just come in and make money and go out of the country. When you come here you should create jobs for the people, add value to the society where you are and it will be a mutually benefitting relationship between them and the government. So, it’s a two-way thing.
The NCAA has said they are carrying out on-going re-certification of all domestic airlines and the last result they gave out affected Discovery Airlines. As AON chairman, do you think exercise will not run down the number of struggling carriers? Are the operators thinking about consolidation and possible merger?
Consolidation is an on-going thing and it is not a police and thief issue. The FAA came to Nigeria to do re-certification. As the NCAA said and everybody knows, FAA didn’t come to Nigeria to shut us down. They will look at your findings and give you time to correct issues. Safety is the issue. If they find a safety issue like something just dropping off the air – which is very rare – then they might sanction you. But most of the time they will give you time to correct it. They don’t wait for the last minute for something to go wrong before they act. So on-going inspection, auditing and recertification in the aviation industry should be expected