Projected growth in the aviation sector has continued to point to the need to train young people to become professionals who would help meet up with demands of the sector in the near future.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the air transport market in Nigeria is forecast under the ‘current trends’ scenario to grow by 174 percent in the next 20 years.
This would result in an additional 9.4 billion passenger journeys by 2037. If met, this increased demand would support approximately $4.7 billion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and almost 555,700 jobs.
Nigeria’s aviation industry currently supports 254,500 jobs and contributes $940 million to national GDP. Of this sum, 49 percent (i.e. $462 million or N90.8 billion) is a direct output of the aviation sector (via airports, airlines and ground services) and indirectly jobs, 51 percent (via the supply chain).
Nigeria’s large population and economy, central location in West Africa, African open skies, under-utilised Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA), especially long haul international, substantial demand and low propensity to fly (PPTF), growing economy & middle class and lack of hubs in West Africa are advantages and pointers to the growth potentials of the country’s aviation sector.
For these obvious reasons, Nigeria needs to train young people that would take up opportunities that would spring up as the air transport industry grows.
Bankole Bernard, an Industry Expert and president of Association of Approved Aviation Training Organizations in Nigeria, (AATO) told BusinessDay that as the industry grows, there would be need for constant training and retraining, especially in an industry where the downstream sector is not properly regulated.
“Nobody will just open a bank because the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) regulates the financial market properly but because the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) is not paying so much attention to the downstream sector of the industry (travel agents), people just do whatever they like.
“If people are not trained and professionalism is not enshrined, productivity will be affected and all we will get is half baked information, poor services and fraud. For professionalism to thrive, we must continue to educate, train and help people get information from the right sources and that is what our focus has always been about,” Bernard said.
He stressed that if people are trained and retrained, they would perfect their act and at the end of the day, the level of productivity would improve which would have an impact on the total output of the industry.
Despite the impact of COVID, very few companies and airlines are training young people in anticipation of a boost in the travel sector.
Lessons from FCM Travel Solutions
As the saying goes ‘Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’, FCM Travel Solutions Nigeria has initiated its #TeachToFish project, an initiative focused on empowering teenagers within the age of 15-20.
The Travel Management Company (TMC) launched the project by organizing training on various skills for Senior Secondary Students at Herbert Macaulay Girls High School and Birrel Comprehensive High School in Adekunle-Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria. Students were enlightened on career opportunities that exist in the aviation industry.
Adejoju Sikuade, the head of Business, FCM Nigeria, said the motive of the #TeachToFish initiative was to encourage creativity among young Nigerians as well create more room for employment.
Sikuade said: “In a report published by the World Bank in 2020, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in most economies, especially developing countries. Having this understanding, we saw an opportunity to invest in young Nigerians by training them on some entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy and also enlighten them on career opportunities that exist in the aviation industry other than becoming a pilot”.
She hinted that with the global pandemic causing a shift in the way businesses operate and a huge reduction in jobs, there is no better time to enlighten people, especially the young ones, on becoming creative entrepreneurs and SME owners in the near future.
“We therefore wish to suggest to the government and the Ministry of Education that entrepreneurial skills be included in secondary school students’ curriculum,” Adejoju added.
Bernard, who shared insights on how he started as an entrepreneur in the aviation industry by selling tickets, also added that students should be taught financial literacy and business management at an early stage.
The Principals of both schools who spoke through their vice principals, Rabiu Olamide for Birrel Comprehensive High School and Ogunleye for Herbert Macaulay Girls High School expressed their gratitude to the organization, stating that the initiative brought cheer to the students.
FCM Travel Solutions Nigeria also announced that it will be sponsoring a further training of the three best students who were selected at the end of the program as well as a tour of one of the reputable aviation training schools in Nigeria.
Adejoju Sikuade who explained that the global pandemic has caused a seismic shift in the way businesses operate and a huge reduction in jobs noted that FCM Travel Solutions understands that the future of jobs rely on the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) today.
Sikuade said her organisation saw this as an opportunity to invest in young Nigerians, especially secondary school students who are still in the phase of deciding what they want to do.
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“The initiative was aimed at broadening their minds beyond the usual kinds of jobs. We wanted them to see that they could do more and be more.
“Nigerian youths are super talented and we can’t afford to let all that go to waste. There are so many young people out there doing amazing things and we wanted to also be a catalyst, we wanted to encourage them and also plant the seeds of financial literacy in them at a tender age. As I said initially, the pandemic has changed a lot of things, especially the way we work. It is thus imperative that we also shift from the normal to the new normal. We can do this by encouraging entrepreneurs who can later become CEOs,” she said.
Owoeye Mary, one of the beneficiaries from the FCM’s training, expressed her gratitude to FCM Travel Solutions for the opportunity to learn different skills.
“One thing our teacher told us and I would not forget was that we should ensure that whatever business we decide to do, we should make sure that we know it first and be sure that our work is quality enough to make our customers come back,” Mary said.
Another beneficiary, who identified himself as Stephen said he was happy to be selected as one the best students in digital marketing.
“I have always had an interest in digital marketing. Our teacher has inspired me to even go further on learning digital marketing. He told us that digital marketing is the future of marketing and every business will need digital marketing in the years to come,” he said.
Speaking earlier on the impact of COVID-19 in the aviation industry and its downstream sector, Adejoju Sikuade said “the coronavirus disease is still very much around but the good thing is that vaccines are now available. Travel and tourism is beginning to find its feet again and unlike the last quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter in 2021.
“I think the airports are busier and we have more people who are willing to travel for leisure and we are starting to see business trips pick up both locally and regionally. I believe that by the last quarter in 2021 or second quarter in 2022 at most, we will experience a certain level of balance,” Sikuade said.
The world has changed since the pandemic and the mode of operation in many organizations have changed too, she said, adding that FCM Travel Solutions is focusing on using technology to ensure that our customers get top-notch services.
“We are also focusing on giving back to society and that is what has birthed the #TeachToFish initiative. Our aim is to help broaden the minds of young people to get creative and show them other career paths that exist in the aviation industry,” she said.
She however called on other corporate organisations to encourage many more young people to create streams of income that can impact the economy positively. “We can have a better Nigeria. So, I’d say, let’s do everything we can to encourage the next generation to be the best they can be,” Sikuade added.
The students were also trained on digital marketing, shoe making, soap making etc.
FCM Travel also announced that it will be sponsoring a further training of the three best students who were selected at the end of the program as well as a tour of one of the reputable aviation training schools in Nigeria. The three best students who were selected are Owoeye Mary for Shoe Making, Mohammed Mariam for Soap/Sanitizer production and Stephen for Digital Marketing.
