All is now set for the take-off of the African Aviation and Aerospace University, AAAU, Abuja, following a provisional approval by the National Universities Commission, NUC.
Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika disclosed this Friday during an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja.
According to Sirika, the initiative which is a major component of the aviation roadmap, was borne out of the need to go into
research and development in the areas of aerospace and aviation.
He said: “We have a need to establish a university dedicated to that and it has taken a very long time. We have been on it since 2016 because it is a rigorous exercise. We need to go through all of the requirements by National Universities Commission, NUC.
“They have been very cooperative and supportive and guided us through the process. They provided support. Soo here we are today with the university about to start.
“The name of the University will be the African Aviation and Aerospace university. We named it Africa because the intent is for it to be a Pan-african university that will support the entire continent. This is so because in our contacts and in our appropriation to have this university come up, we did indeed contacted people in the country and outside.
“We contacted many universities that are aerospace and avaition related and also International Civil Aviation Authority, the African Civil Aviation Commission, AFCAC and many others and all these calibrated into what we have and the focus of the university as a university for aviation and aerospace.”
The Minister added that the varsity has been given a land allocation in the nation’s capital, saying, “the university has been given a location very close to the airport area by the government and it will be established there.
“This university is supposed to be a hybrid university, on campus as well as online university. We have The provisional approval by the NUC.
“We will be partnering with Nile university in Abuja. We have a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU which will be signed hopefully by Monday for official partnership but we have discussed and agreed and it is just the formality for the signing (remaining).”
In the interim, Sirika said lectures would commence at the temporal campus at the Accident Investigation Bureau headquarters, as well as the Nile University campus, Abuja.
While noting that registration would commence from September 26th to November 18th this year, Sirika said the institution is targeting 20 students each to enlist to study Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Business and Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Meteorology.
“The second year which is 2023, we will be doing Masters in Air Transport Management. This is all part of what we discussed with the NUC and we have gotten approval for that.
“We will soon unveil the website which is www.aaau.edu.ng. However, this is going to be available soon because we need to meet other requirements to activate the website but it will be soon,” he assured.
The university, according to the Minister, would be privatized for efficiency and focus,adding that “all the things that we are seeing going wrong with our aviation system are largely due to lack of capacity and understanding of the business itself.
“Aviation is an exact science and technology. It is a very dynamic industry with changes frequently. So, we need to keep up with speed and have people who have the capacity and requisite knowledge to run the business. It is not enough to be a pilot or an engineer like me to run an aviation business.
“It is an art by itself and a profession, so the Buhari government seeks to change that and also because of how fast aviation and aerospace is changing the world over. We need to participate in it to be able to go into huge research and development in civil aviation. We should not be left behind,” he added. Continue Reading
