- The Nigerian government has earmarked N2.3 billion for local assembly of training aircraft in Nigeria.
- The project will be implemented at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria
- The minister stated that the school will begin by assembling advanced training aircraft in the country.
The federal government has approved the sum of N2.3 billion for the local assembly of Magnus trainer aircraft.
The project will take place at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria in Kaduna State.
Source: Getty Images
Nigeria to move towards aircraft manufacturing
This was stated by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, after the Federal Executive Council Meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
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According to Sirika, the Nigerian aviation industry will soon switch to local aircraft manufacturing.
It stated that Nigeria will assemble the Sentinel variant locally, while Magus will supply dozens of its Fusion UL aerobatic trainer aircraft.
Last year, Mangus signed an agreement with the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) for the assembly with the sale of its Fusion UL model.
BusinessDay reported that Sirika stated that Nigeria will continue to assemble the Magnus aircraft and before long the aviation industry will start manufacturing aircraft in the country.
He said the country will start by assembling training aircraft and that will happen soon.
Advanced trainer aircraft to be manufactured in Nigeria
sirika said:
“And the total sum of the contract is N2.3 billion; the execution period is 18 months.’
“We were all trained as pilots; But because planes are getting more and more technologically advanced, the need for a twist and turn recovery didn’t arise, because they are getting more and more sophisticated.
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“But again, the world realized that we still spin or need to develop this ability to recover from spin situations.”
Sirika said that due to the advancement in aircraft manufacturing, manufacturers stopped producing trainers and that led to a shortage of trainer aircraft.
According to the Minister, Mangus started to plug the gap and started producing planes that can turn in and out of it so that students can get training in that.
He said:
“Our intention is to produce them here, assemble them here in politics, when in the future, you know, sell them to wherever we are interested in around the world.
“So this will happen and I think the first one or two planes will happen here in Nigeria and they will fly within the four months left that we have as a government.”
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Nigeria and Hungary began collaborating in January 2021 to improve pilot training, operation and maintenance of the intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) payload.
National airlines take Nigerian government to court over Nigeria Air deal, make lawsuits
legit.ng reported that the launch of Nigeria Air may be halted after eight national airlines filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government, its foreign technical partners and the majority shareholders.
According to The Punch, the national airline is requesting that the Federal Government/Civil Aviation Authority of Nigeria revoke the Air Transport License already granted to Nigeria Air.
The local airlines also claimed that the firm that served as transaction adviser for the transaction was founded in March last year and was connected to the aviation minister.
Source: Legit.ng
