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International Aviation Group, a global aviation project management conglomerate, is to build in the country a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility for aircraft operating within and outside Nigeria, the Federal Government has said.
It stated that the group had also expressed readiness to build an aviation academy in Abuja in a bid to reduce the burden on the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Zaria for the production of relevant manpower for the industry.
The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, disclosed this in his office in Abuja while playing host to the Chief Executive Officer of Crestfields Support Services, Mr. Osahemi Idahosa, who was in company with the Chairman of IAG, Mr. Stuart Harrison.
Sirika assured his guests of the best return on their investments, saying that Nigeria remained the only country where the rate of return was close to 50 per cent, describing the development as the best in Africa.
He said the investments were not only desirable, but profitable, and noted that the establishment of the facility in Nigeria would reduce the cost of aircraft maintenance and facilitate the transformation of the country into a regional aviation hub.
The minister informed the team of the Federal Government’s plan to establish an aviation university in Abuja, with technical support from the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
This, he said, was without prejudice to the ongoing expansion of facilities at the NCAT, as he invited interested organisations to form partnerships with the government in that regard.
Sirika advised the IAG team to visit the NCAT in order to be familiar with the programmes and facilities of the college with a view to doing something different and fresh for the proposed academy.
Earlier in his address, the IAG chairman said the group was renowned for global aviation projects, aircraft and helicopter sales and leases, as well as manpower development.
