The International Aviation College, IAC, Ilorin, Kwara state want the Federal Government to grant them customs duty waivers on aircraft spare parts to enhance the training of pilots.
This is just as the college appealed for support from the Federal Government in terms of subventions and grants.
The Acting Rector of the IAC, Ilorin, Captain Yakubu Okotahi made the call in an interview with the Aviation Correspondents, LAAC in Ilorin.
According to him, the goal of the college is to train Nigerian pilots for the industry and to effectively do this, there must be palliatives to cushion the effects of the present economic realities.
“We pay customs duty on our imported parts and aircraft and I think the Federal Government should look into that and give us some relief, it should not pay customs duty , it should grant or subvention every year”. he noted.
“It is pretty expensive, we are charging N12.5m now and everything is based on dollar, the aircraft is in dollar, and spare parts we are buying is dollar, some of the instructors that are going to be foreign, they are going to ask for dollar, so it is just reasonable for us to increase the fees”.
Our aviation correspondent reports that the college has concluded plans to introduce more courses, which includes; engineering and cabin crew services.
Reporting by Nosa Aituemen;Editing by Fany Olumoye & Adeniyi bakare