GENERAL Manager, Santos Aviation, Segun Adesanya has said that it’s primary reason setting shop in Nigeria since 2015, is to transfer technology and grow manpower as well as job opportunities in the sector.
Santos Aviation is an aircraft interior maintenance company a first of its kind, in West and Central Africa and only one of four in Africa as a whole in designing the interior of aircraft with refurbishment of aircraft seats, leather seats upgrade, cabin noise reduction, carpet biding, door panel repairs among others.
According to him, Santos came purposely to transfer some ideas, knowledge gathered outside the country and use it to impart in the industry as well as train Nigerians to the point of certification.
Santos has a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certification to maintain interior of aircraft that are manufactured or registered in the United States from the Boeing’s to Gulfstream and Cessna stressing that this experience would be invaluable bro the country.
He also said it was safer economically both for the airlines and the country to use services as it would curb capital flight as well as lengthy aircraft on ground (AOG) periods.
” The primary reason why we came to Nigeria is to transfer technology and for us to transfer technology we must be here. When you see these expatriates, it’s not really helping the economy. I bet you 99.9% they don’t have Nigerian accounts, you make payments to their foreign accounts.
” We came over here purposely to transfer some ideas, knowledge we acquired outside the country over the years. We are not the only ones who do this, the Indians did it, the Iranians did it and the only difference is that the Indian government, the Iranian government supported their people more than Nigeria is supporting its own.
Adesanya also said that Santos Aviation would be hiring a few people from outside the country who are born- Nigerians but have acquired certification and training and they would be importing their knowledge like expatriates.
He also said that they will be training Nigerians for two years and at the end of that time those will go through the process to get FAA lisences.
On the benefits of Santos, the veteran engineer said, ” if you take your airplane outside Nigeria, you fly the plane in and during that time the aircraft is grounded, you are losing money, it can be eight to ten weeks without flying…
“Another thing I want you to take into consideration is that some aircraft owners after they take up a lot of bills they don’t have the money to pay and the aircraft will be there more that schedule and all the time losing money.
