Information emerged yesterday as to why the Boeing 737-NG full flight simulator acquired in 2020 by the federal government for the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) has not been deployed.
The simulator was purchased for $21m (now valued at N28.8bn) to boost internally generated revenue (IGR) of the college and reduce capital flight out of Nigeria.
A former rector of the college, Capt. Alkali Moddibo, told journalists in January 2022 that the equipment would be deployed in April that year alongside the automatic fire-fighting training simulator which has also not been deployed.
“Also, we are working on the B737 equipment certification. It is taking us longer than we intended, but we will try all our best to ensure that by March or April this year, we will have the B737 simulator equipment and put it to use. You need to have the international certification before the NCAA will now give you its own certification.
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For example, you must have the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or EASA certification and the NCAA, based on one of those certifications, will now issue you its own certificate,” he said.
But yesterday, the Head of Simulator at NCAT, Capt. Abbas Ambursa, revealed that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was yet to certify it due to lack of capacity.
He spoke in Lagos at the Aviation Round Table (ART) Quarter One Breakfast Business Meeting with the theme: ‘Manpower Strategy Training, Succession and Human Capacity Development in the Nigerian Aviation Sector.’
Ambursa spoke just as the ART called for a deliberate policy to review and suspend policy to review taxes and tariff for airlines to bring succor to stop the astronomical rise in air fares.
The NCAT official stated that the equipment had been coupled, tested, but regretted the lack of certification capacity by the NCAA which has stopped its use.
He said: “The aircraft as we talk now has been coupled, tested, but the problem is that it doesn’t have the certification of by the NCAA in the last two years. This is so because when NCAT contacted the NCAA, the NCAA said they don’t have the capability to carry out that certification.
“That is why the simulator is still on the ground. I can tell you categorically here that nobody has trained on it. The fact that we don’t have a B737NG aircraft here in Nigeria doesn’t mean we don’t have customers from the outside that are waiting to use the simulator. As I am talking to you now, you can quote me from anywhere; I have about five companies from the Middle East that want to hire this simulator and use it for training.
“I am the Head of Simulator at NCAT and I want to tell you that as long as we don’t have certification on that equipment, it is not good for the country.”
President of ART, Air Commodore Demola Onitiju (rtd) tasked the present administration to come up with policies that would “address airline survival and growth with a view to lowering the recent astronomical increase in air fare on the domestic scene.”
The ART advocated for the constitution of governing boards for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and other aviation agencies in the Nigerian aviation sector.
“Corruptive tendencies often associated with political interference will be appropriately checked and curbed by a focused and knowledgeable board. We urge the Minister of Aviation to do the needful.”