The College recently acquired a number of Helicopters to diversify into helicopter pilot training. This is a swift response to assuage the yearning needs of oil companies, research and rescue operators and other stakeholder in the industry.
When Capt. Kalu assumed office as a Rector in NCAT , she was greeted with lots of challenges ranging from the preponderance of obsolete training equipments to that of staff in need of training , backlog of unpaid salaries, decay of infrastructures and low revenue profile of the college , but barely two years on the saddle, she deployed her managerial acumen in the running of the institution as the five schools in the college namely Flying, Air Traffic services/Communication, Aircraft maintenance, Aeronautical Telecommunication Engineering and Aviation management school have now been upgraded and standardized both in facility and personnel and can favourably compete with any Aviation Training school in the world.
Some notable achievements of Captain Kalu at NCAT include;
-She ensured that NCAT joins the membership of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Train-Air Plus and facilitated the Accreditation of NCAT with Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for recognition and award of HND Certificates. She also facilitated the citing of the NCAT Satellite Campus of in Niger State. Captains with expired licenses have since been put on a refresher course with a view to re-validating their licenses.
-Prompt payment of staff salaries as well as clearing the backlog of arrears owed them. She motivated the workforce by promoting deserving staff.
-Increased capacity and improvement of Training Pilots and other Courses.
-She maintained the entrenchment of Due Process in the award of all contracts in the institution and has ensured the expansion of the staff office accommodation as well as the improvement of hostel facilities for students.
Captain Kalu has fostered a superb relationship with the host community in particular and the Zazzau Emirate in general, which has engendered peaceful and conducive learning environment for students of the college. .
Statistically, NCAT has trained over six hundred staff from October 2011 to date. Capt Kalu has sustained a robust Personnel/Labour- Management Relationship as she also sponsored the trip of members of both local and National Unions to Havana, Cuba in the year 2012 to observe the International Labour Day and the trip for members of Women in Aviation to Florida, USA to attend their Annual Conference in 2011. She also supported the hosting of the Annual Congress of Women in Aviation held in Lagos.
The Rector also contributed to the growth of various Associations in the Aviation Industry both in Nigeria and Africa. Notable among them is the Association of African Training Organisations (AATO), the umbrella body of all aviation training institutions in Africa. It has a strong vision to create safer African skies through high quality standardized aviation training and to promote harmonization of aviation training in Africa through co-operation, sharing of expertise, resources amongst members and other stakeholders.
AATO has an interim council which was recently constituted and Captain Kalu currently sits on the council board as the only Nigeria’s representative and the tenure is for a period of eight years. That the duo of Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah and NCAT Rector, Captain Kalu are committed and determined to turn around the Nigerian aviation industry is evidenced in the on-going re-modeling of over 22 Airports across the country, the planned establishment of AEROTROPOLIS around major airports in Nigeria, the re-organization of various agencies under the Aviation ministry as well as the standardization of facilities and trainings at NCAT to world class, vis-à-vis the relative safety of Nigerian skies.
This is also evidenced in the successful hosting of the AATO’s constitutive assembly at Abuja between 10th and 12th April, 2013.Speaking at the event, Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji called for all parliaments across Africa to quickly domesticate all ICAO laws for easy implementation and adherence.
In the same vein, Captain Mrs. Chinyere Kalu being the host of the constitutive assembly said there is need for aviation training institutions to make use of scarce resources allocated to them for maximum result saying there is a unanimity of agreement among training institutions to conserve huge capital flight that would have been expended on foreign trainings of our students and personnel.
Ismaila is a Public Analyst and can be reached on [email protected]
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