The pilots, who trained with single-engine Diamond- 40 and 42 series of aircrafts, were said to be well trained to fly even passenger Boeing 737 carriers. Speaking on the contents of the training, Chairman of the College’s Board of Governor, Captain Edward Boyo, said the pilots were exposed to both ground and flights handling of aircrafts for 15 months during training as against 18 that they advertised for.
Boyo disclosed that before graduation, four of them had already gotten employment consisting of three retained in the college as instructors and another one employed by Shell International which enabled him to currently undergoing another round of training in the United States.
The other two, he said, are to resume another training in South Africa in January and that they were being sponsored by Senator Bukola Saraki for N20 million each.
Speaking on the occasion, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed commended his predecessor, Senator Bukola Saraki, for his vision to establish the college and as well as the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah. for facilitating endorsement of Authorised Training Organisation (ATO) certification in 2012 to pave way for the College take-off. The governor expressed his joy that the students were able to grasp sound trainings meant for 18 months and graduated in 15 months.
He attributed the feat to the College’s management’s emphasis on high training standards and the high calibre of its trainers. Ahmed, who said there is increasing demand globally for the qualified personnel to serve in the aviation industry, expressed hope that the College would soon emerge a major contributor to the task of meeting the demand.
He said: “Today, welltrained aviators and allied professionals remain premium in the aviation industry in Nigeria and abroad. As the aviation sector expands, due to a global increase in requirement for air travel and the consequent increase in aircraft, so does the demand for welltrained aviation professionals to run the industry.
“International Aviation College, Ilorin, therefore has tremendous growth potential and the capacity to enhance human capital development within and outside the sector.”
Also speaking, Aviation Minister Stella Oduah advised the young pilots to see their graduation as the beginning of a career, saying: “You should brace yourselves up for the challenges that might come your well as you progress on the career.”
The minister, who was represented by the Managing Director of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), George Urueze, expressed delight that with the graduation, the College would be contributing to solution of dearth of personnel in the aviation sector.
The pilots were awarded Diplomas, Certificates and Licenses to fly aircrafts in the Standard Pilot Course 1 (SPC1) categories.
Source: National Mirror
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