The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers has sounded the alarm over the future of Nigeria’s aviation sector, warning that the pilot and engineering professions are facing an existential crisis.
President of NAAPE, Abednego Galadima, speaking at a recent press conference, said the crisis is due to local airlines’ consistent refusal to invest in training young professionals, particularly pilots. Galadima lamented that instead of training pilots and engineers, local airlines prefer to poach experienced hands from existing companies, a practice he described as “migrating and recycling of professionals.”
This trend, he said, may stunt or kill the dreams of many fresh talents. “We are having difficulty establishing very robust MROs that will absorb our members massively. Also, most of the airlines, because they don’t want to train, would rather prefer to be poaching from one company to another, and thereby leaving these young maintenance engineers at the mercy of what they call startups,” Galadima stated.
The NAAPE president highlighted that even after investing heavily in their training, young pilots return to a hostile industry with limited job opportunities due to the lean carrying capacity of the sector.
This lack of opportunity pushes many to exit the country to seek greener pastures elsewhere. “As the older, highly experienced pilots and engineers age out, the industry is failing to build a pipeline of local talent to replace them. This has led to massive skill gaps and threatens the sustainability of Nigeria’s aviation sector,” Galadima warned.
Galadima also expressed concern over the importation of foreign professionals, particularly in the oil and gas aviation sub-sector, where some airlines prefer to employ expatriate pilots from Eastern Europe rather than train Nigerians. He described this as a short-sighted cost-cutting measure that deepens the succession crisis in the profession.
However, Galadima expressed relief in the recent announcement by Air Peace to establish an MRO facility in Nigeria with Embraer. “And I believe that getting the government to pay attention to some of the nuances we are getting will go a long way. Yesterday, I heard that Nigeria’s Air Peace and Embraer want to build an MRO. I think it’s a welcome development. It’s something we look forward to,” he said.
Galadima called on the government and stakeholders in the aviation industry to act swiftly to reverse the dangerous trend, emphasizing the urgent need for policies that prioritize training, encourage investment in human capital, and ensure sustainable growth in Nigeria’s aviation industry. “Migration should be a matter of choice, not necessity,” he stressed.
