22 ex-militants qualify as aircraft engineers

The Presidential Amnesty Office on Friday said 22 beneficiaries of its foreign education programme had graduated as Aircraft Maintenance Engineers and had returned to the country.

The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta,  Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh, disclosed this during a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

He said the beneficiaries were trained at the Royal Jordanian Air Academy and were equipped with EASA licence on return, adding that without the licence, they would not be useful in the aviation industry.

Boroh, who doubles as the Coordinator of Presidential Amnesty Programme, said the licence made the beneficiaries certified aircraft maintenance professionals needed in modern airline operation.

“Worldwide aircraft maintenance business is enormous, and expanding with the passage of time,” Boroh told NAN.

“Approximately 500, 000 passenger and cargo aircrafts are currently in service worldwide.

“Moreover, about four million smaller private aircrafts are being used for business or pleasure. Thus, aviation is an ever-expanding field with modernization of equipment on new aircraft.

“Therefore, the requirements of aircraft engineers and aircraft mechanics to work on a permanent basis as an employee of an airline will always rise with ever increasing expansion of aviation industry.”