No airline can survive 28% interest rate — Demuren

Dr Harold Demuren, a former Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) , says no airline can survive under the current 28 to 30 per cent interest rate charge on loans by commercial banks.

Demuren stated this at the Aviation Safety Roundtable Initiative (ART) Q1 Business Breakfast Meeting on Thursday in Lagos.

According to him, an airline is dead even before starting business with such an interest rate.

“You borrow money from the bank at what, 28 per cent and 30 per cent, how do you win? You are dead from the beginning.

“These are the things we should look at. Government gives agriculture a special interest rate, why is that and not also to aviation?,” he noted.

He said there was need for government funding as regards safety.

“When people are safe, they will tolerate you, otherwise, they will not like to fly. Aviation is crucial to our survival”.

He noted that training was pivotal to development and that with no training, the sector would not achieve its goal.

Demuren recalled how big he was with training during his time as D-G.

Mr Benedict Adeyileka, an Engineer and former NCAA D-G, delivered a paper on “Manpower Strategy, Training, Succession and Development in Aviation”.

Adeyileka said that according to Boeing, Africa needs 67,000 pilots, technicians and cabin crew to solve manpower problems.

“According to the Aviation Industry Global Skills Survey (GSS) conducted in 2022 by IATA, it was concluded that the perceived gap in aviation is a quantitative staffing gap rather than a qualitative skill gap,” he said.

It was reported that Demuren and four others were inaugurated as a patrons of ART, while Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Chairman of Juli Pharmacy, was awarded the Grand Patron of ART.

In his remarks, Adelusi-Adeluyi commended the initiative and expressed his passion for aviation, stating that more should be done as it concerned membership, funding and programmes in the sector.

Also, the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) disclosed that its N16 billion Boeing 737NG simulator had remained inactive due to NCAA certification concerns.

Capt. Ambursa Abbas, the College Simulator Director, said that CAA’s incapacity to certify the 2020-acquired equipment had stalled the optimal use of the technology.

According to Abass, Boeing 737NG simulator potential goes beyond Nigeria as several proposals from Middle Eastern companies have continued to roll in to make use of the simulator.

“We have not had any users of our simulator; however, we have proposals. We have companies waiting for us.

“So, it is not about the relevance. As I speak, we have more than five (5) companies in the middle east that are waiting for us.

“As far as there is no certification, there is nothing we can do. But the NCAA, with NCAT, has sent people out to get certification,” he said.