Stakeholders in Nigeria’s aviation sector have attributed the mass exodus also known as “Japa syndrome” of key professionals abroad to the naira devaluation and poor remuneration for the workforce.
The sector is currently suffering from brain drain as qualified and experienced professionals have continued to seek greener pastures abroad.
Among those on the moving train are pilots, engineers, air traffic controllers and safety inspectors. Most of these professionals have reportedly left for foreign countries.
The development was first brought to the fore in a recent interview by the director-general of the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Capt. Alex Badeh Jr, where he lamented that many aviation professionals had left Nigeria.
Capt. Badeh attributed the trend to the huge disparity in the exchange rate caused by the devaluation of the naira against foreign currencies.
He said, “There is a brain drain as well. Again, the pay: most people go home, they have families to feed and bills to pay, so a lot of people I started flying with have left the country, and a lot of maintenance people have left the country.
“Japa is heavily and seriously affecting the country as about 80 percent of people I start flying with here in Nigeria have left the country. I left the country too, but I returned to Nigeria,” he stated
Corroborating Capt Badeh Jr, the former national president of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), Isaac Balami, said Nigerian operators were unable to compete with their foreign counterparts on global minimum wage.
He said most aviation professionals have families abroad, and with the naira losing its value, they abandon local operators for where they could get foreign currencies to service their lifestyles.
“If the operators are doing well, they will be able to compete favourably with the global minimum wage today because most aviators in Nigeria have their family living in Canada, USA and UK. So, anything they earn, they change it to the US dollar to pay rents, tuition, but even if they change their salary now, they can’t cope. So, they end up looking for jobs that can pay them in dollars. They leave because they can’t maintain the home front in the diaspora.
“Another issue is that of the airlines’ survival. Three airlines – Azman, Max Air and Dana – have gone down or suspended aside other small operators that are out of business, and there is no support base.
“Also, 50 per cent of the aircraft in the Nigerian airspace are only ACMI Aircraft Crew Maintenance and Insurance and that means, their aircraft, the air hostesses and pilots are foreigners. You pay the expatriates in dollars and sell tickets in naira, so at the end, they are doing that to maintain their market share by saying I am flying 30 or 40 percent of the Nigerian market but the money isn’t translating into their pockets because most of it is going overseas. In the end, the jobs that Nigerians should be doing are going back to foreign countries,” he stated.
Also, the chief executive officer of Belujane Konzult, Chris Aligbe, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that since the nation’s aviation sector is dwindling and the industry has no jobs for the professionals, they have to seek greener pastures abroad.
Aligbe, a former general manager of public affairs at defunct Nigeria Airways, urged the federal government to grow the industry to retain professionals in the sector.
He said, “The industry is dwindling. So, how are you going to keep professionals? When there is no job, how will they stay? What I’m saying is that first and foremost, there should be a job. If there is a job, no one will be going out of the country.
“Why would they stay here? Wait for what? If you have a job for the people, they will stay but if you don’t have a job for them, there’s no way you can expect them to stay.”
On the way out of the crisis, Aligbe urged the government to grow the industry, saying, “We have some of our pilots outside the country. Maybe when the national carrier comes to fruition, we can get people who can have a job and come from other countries to fly, but the fact is that the country is dwindling very fast.
“How many airlines are there in the country and how many of them are flying? We don’t have up to 60 operational aircraft in the country; there is no job. If there is no job, you can’t keep people, but if there is a job, they will stay.
“If there are jobs, they won’t ‘Japa’, the government should grow the economy; if they succeed, people will come back to the country, and I don’t think anyone wants to leave the country if there is a job. What they are earning overseas is huge, but it’s because of naira devaluation,” he stated.
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