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Ebuka Daniel
The federal government has presented a concept note of the proposed Aviation and Aerospace University to the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The commission, a regulator of university education in Nigeria, assured the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika that it would expeditiously look into the concept document he submitted.
The Executive Secretary, NUC, Professor Abubakar Rasheed, who gave the assurance after receiving the note from the minister, said the commission will engage some professors to perfect the concept note for immediate approval.
“I can assure you that by the end of the month (July), we are going to have a brand new university, the first of its kind in Abuja, the first African university dedicated to aviation and aerospace study in the country.”
The NUC executive secretary applauded the minister for his courage in ensuring that the university sees the light of the day. He said the proposed institution is a special one that deserves support, noting that it won’t serve only Nigeria, but the entire continent and the international community.
Earlier the minister, who was accompanied by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Directors and Heads of Agencies, said the ‘African Aviation and Aerospace University Abuja’ will be dedicated to research and development of knowledge in aviation and aerospace.
He said the quest for the university was driven by the need to fill some identified gaps for the growth and development of the aviation sector.
“When we took up the leadership in civil aviation, we identified and understood the gap in the growth and development of civil aviation in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. We are deficient in research and development in civil aviation and aerospace technology and that has caused a lot of underdevelopment of the sector and made us backwards.”
