DIRECTOR General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Captain Musa Nuhu has explained the necessity for a succession plan of sorts and bringing up the next generation of aviation professionals in the industry stressing that the industry has huge potentials and needs the ingenuity and talents of the young ones to harness them.
Nuhu made this known in Lagos this morning at the 5th Explore Aviation Careers Conference hosted by MamaJ Aviation Consult Ltd, at the NCAA Annex stressing that while the industry is experiencing growth with regards new airlines, the need for more technical expertise cannot be over emphasized.
He commended the coordinator of the conference, Mrs. Joy Ogbebo stating that the fact that it was non-profit career initiative in a bid to grow that critical requirement that is currently lacking in the industry.
He stated, “Well without the young generation of aviation professionals, the industry will die a natural death. We are all on the final lap in the industry so the succession planning we need to stimulate the interest of the young ones to get into the industry. As it is, the world is changing, we have so much ICT, Information technology and the young ones are very adept and we need to get them into the system so they can make the system for efficient, more effective and grow the industry.
” The Nigerian aviation industry has huge potentials and we need to just keep working on it and we need ingenuity and the talents of the young ones to harness them and exploit the potential of this industry”
On the programme proper he said it would give the next generation of aviation professionals carrier opportunities by introducing then to mentors who will guide them appropriately.
“My commendation stems from the fact that the programme which is a non-profit  career  initiative  is  aimed  at  giving  next  generation  of  aviation professionals career opportunities. This  is  by  introducing  and  providing  them  mentors  who  will  assist  in  easily    navigating into their career paths. You will agree with me that this engagement    could not have come at a better time than this. It will help in nurturing them into taking up careers in aviation, thereby helping in breeding hordes of professionals that will assuage dearth of technical personnel,” Nuhu said.
In her welcome address, Founder, Mamaj Aviation Consult Limited, Joy Ogbebo said the aim of the conference is to introduce and mentor aspiring next generation of skilled aviation professionals and participants on career opportunities.
she stressed that in an emerging world, the need for knowledge sharing and information cannot be over emphasized as amazing opportunities awaits young minds who want to delve into the aviation and aerospace industry.
She said,”Now, the question is, how can we harness the potentials of the next skilled generation? How can we improve on the skills they already possess? How can we help them take informed decision, education and career choices? How can we transform them? How can we help them navigate around the many challenges? We all have a role to play. I have a role to play. I am doing that with this platform. The Government has a role to play, the airlines and private sector participation is required. There is no better time to start investing in the next generation of aviation professionals by harnessing the potentials of the next generation.. This will only happen if investments are made in youth. The returns on investment in young people can be enormous.
