Pilots, engineers protest expats’ influx

LAGOS—At least 30 un-employed licensed Nigerian pilots and engineers, yesterday, stormed the office of the Nigerian Association of Aircraft and Pilots ( NAAPE)  protesting the influx of expatriates in the country’s aviation industry.

The protesters, who demonstrated within the airport environment of the Murtala  Muhammed Airport, MMA, Lagos, lamented that the incursion of expatriate pilots and engineers in the industry had rendered them jobless, despite their qualifications for the job.

One of the protesters, who did not disclose his identity, alleged that  aeronautic engineers’ graduate, not even type-rated on any aircraft, were  given employment by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to issue  license to aircraft maintenance engineers.

The aggrieved protester also purported that NCAA had not conducted any license  examinations for upcoming aviation practitioners for almost a year, stressing  that the situation was not good for the development of the sub-sector.

He said: “With a deeper research by design of their profession, aeronautic  personnel are supposed to be in the factory where aircraft are being  manufactured.

“Aeronautical engineers are destroying the future of licensed  aircraft maintenance engineers in the country.”
The protesters also challenged President Gioodluck Jonathan to appoint a  technocrat from the industry, preferably an air traffic controller, cabin crew  personnel, pilots and engineers as the minister of aviation in this  dispensation.

They said, “In the air transport industry, aeronautical engineers belong to the  designers and the manufacturers of aircraft, they have little relevance in the  airline operation because they are not licensed in practise.

In Nigeria, we only  fly and maintain aircraft and the core professionals are the aforementioned  professionals that are licensed.”

Addressing the aggrieved personnel, the National President of NAAPE, Engr. Isaac  Balami, urged the protesters to be patient with the government and assured them  that President Jonathan would listen to the voice of stakeholders and  professionals in the industry by appointing core aviator as the next minister of  aviation.

He said:   “As far as NAAPE is concerned, you should be patience, because this  agitation commenced not too long ago and we should not raise any dust in the  sector. NAAPE and other professionals are trying to canvass for the appointment  of aviation professional as the Minister of Aviation and I’m sure we are on  course.”