The Group Managing Director, Lagos Aviation Academy (LAA), Mr. Bernard Bankole, has urged the Federal Government to strengthen aviation education in the country.
He made the submission while speaking on the sidelines of the unveiling of the Academy’s new facility in Lagos, adding that beyond training professionals for local utilisation, Nigeria, like other countries of the world, must look towards educating aviation professionals for export.
He noted that the onus lies on government to deliberately look on the path of human capacity building for the sector stating that humans are the greatest assets of any industry.
He said: “This is to set the record and the path right that the government needs to look more into how we develop education, develop our people, because in every organisation and in every country, the humans are the greatest assets. We realise that and in our little capacity we will try to see how we can enhance and develop people that will add value not only to our industry but to the rest of the world. That is what we have been doing at LAA and that is what we would continue to do.”
Bankole noted that existing training gaps within the country’s aviation industry promoted the birth of LAA and has inspired it’s growth over the years.
LAA has since its inception in 2017 won the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Awards for four years. Hence, the Group MD, said that the group is glad to be part of the body of institutions developing professionalism within the Nigerian aviation industry.
“Over the last few years, we have trained over 2,000 students. We are glad to say that we have added to the level of professionalism in the Nigerian aviation industry.
“Some of our alumni are working with international airlines. We have set the path right and we are going to be pushing like never before to ensure that professionalism is enshrined in this industry that we find ourselves,” he said.
