In order to maximize the potential of the an overwhelming number of youths interested in aviation-related skills, the first private aviation school in South East Nigeria, Eastwing Aviation Institute, has established a non-profit organization, Eastwing Youth Foundation, to address the financial impediments holding back young people from the aviation industry.
In an event tagged, “Pushing the Boundaries of Air Transport Planning, Operations and Management in the Region, ” organized by Eastwing Aviation Training Centre, in collaboration with Gogma Consult Nigeria Limited, the founder and CEO of Eastwing Aviation, Dr Christopher Edeh, during his speech, said: “In the area of aircraft maintenance engineering training especially in the South East, our youths are very talented and I believe they would do very well. But a lot of them who have expressed interest, also complained of financial constraints. Those with potential will be identified, by us and maybe by the local community, and will be trained.”
He added: “The good thing here is that you do not need to be a science student to be a flight attendant or a cabin crew. Piloting, however, requires five credits in science background.”
Speaking further said: “We offer an aviation management course. Even if you graduated from a different course and want to go into management, this course will prepare you for it. We have graduate engineers who enroll on a two-year course with us and if they pass the exams set by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, they get their licenses and they will be able to work in their area of choice with the certificate from the university and the license from the institute.”
On what Eastwing Aviation has been doing, he offered an insight: “We have about three graduates with us. We have a lot of people who graduated from various parts of the world without licenses, they come back and we prepare for the license exams for a duration of six months, being that the degree they are coming back with does not qualify them to work on the aircraft.”
Edeh, has revealed that South-East region’s leaders’ reluctance to give scholarships in the aviation sector was what compelled him to establish a foundation to save the situation.
Addressing some journalists during his formalization of Eastwing Aviation Institute’s partnership with Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT), Dr. Edeh said: “In terms of scholarships our people are so backwards, especially as regards to the leaderships of these parts of the country. I remember when I was in Zaria, I give credit to the northern governors, one political leader can provide funding for a hundred people, and whatever it will take, they will write the cheque. I mentioned this in one of my presentations in Nigeria and the number of people they have sponsored in the aviation industry. Enugu State was zero and most of the southeast states were nil. They never sponsored anybody. Does it mean we are not getting allocations like other states? Or we do not just have interest in that?”
He continued: “The River State governor once tried to train a few people. So what we are doing is to bring this school very close to the people. I have never met the present governor nor explained anything to him because they are a new administration in the State, but I know eventually a time would come for us to meet and share thoughts on how Enugu can key into these unique ideas.”
He explained the cause of lack of interest among the elites in the region, saying: “When you tell an Igbo man that he needs N15 million to sponsor someone in aviation school, he would believe that it is more profitable going to China to bring one or two containers. This is the type of mentality that we need to change, we should look at the value and not the cost.”
Dr. Edeh specially thanked the ESUT Vice Chancellor and the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, “who have provided a very strong backing to the Eastwing Aviation institute and are doing everything possible to the actualization of this dream.”