Maintain standard, NCAA DG charges Lagos Aviation Academy

The director-general of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Chris Najomo, yesterday charged the management of Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA) to continue to maintain standard in the training of aviation professionals.

He spoke in Lagos during the opening of the new office of the LAA, a foremost aviation training institution and one of the subsidiaries of Finchglow Holdings.

Represented by the Lagos regional manager of the NCAA, Bukola Teriba, a lawyer, Najomo commended the exploit of the LAA in promoting human development in the aviation sector and deepening professionalism.

He said the academy had taken a bold step, which is in the best interest of the industry and Nigeria as a whole, noting that it would help in saving the country the foreign exchange that would have gone into acquiring such training outside the country.

“This academy is not only good for the industry, it is also good for Nigeria because you know that before now, professionals were not many in the field, and we felt that instead of travelling abroad and spending so much, we should have our own academy that has the capacity to train the professionals. And we are very proud of you.”

“I want to advise you to keep up the standard. You know what you went through before you got here. You went through so many checks, so we advise you to continue to keep the standard and the level.”

The Group Managing Director of Finchglow Holdings, Mr Bernard Bankole, disclosed that over 2000 students had been trained in the last seven years of the school.

Bankole, who is the president of the Association of African Aviation Training Organisations (AATO), said that with the bigger facility, the academy was positioned to train more professionals for the aviation industry.

The president of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Yinka Folami, said the organisation would partner the LAA to deepen professionalism in the downstream sector of the aviation industry.