The Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development has warned the African Aviation and Aerospace University (AAAU) against abandoning its specialised mandate by introducing programmes unrelated to aviation and aerospace.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, gave the warning during the university’s matriculation ceremony on Thursday in Abuja.
Keyamo was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mahmud Kambari.
He said that while the university should expand its academic offerings after operating largely with two programmes over the past three academic sessions, such expansion must remain within its statutory mandate.
“The Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development will not support any attempt for AAAU to gradually drift into becoming a conventional university.
“We have witnessed situations where specialised universities slowly abandoned their mandates and began offering programmes that bear little or no relationship to their founding objectives. That will not happen here,” he said.
According to him, every new programme introduced by the university must directly support aviation, aerospace and other strategic sectors.
He listed priority areas for expansion to include aircraft engineering, aviation management, airport operations, air transport economics, aviation safety management, aerospace engineering, and air navigation services.
Other areas of expansion, he said, are aviation cybersecurity, aviation law, aviation finance, aviation medicine, logistics and supply chain management, meteorology and airport security.
The minister said AAAU was established as a strategic national investment to bridge the manpower gap in the rapidly growing global aviation industry.
He noted that the aviation sector would require more than 600,000 commercial pilots, over 700,000 aircraft maintenance engineers and technicians, as well as hundreds of thousands of other aviation professionals over the next decade.
He added that Africa was projected to record one of the fastest passenger traffic growth rates globally but currently contributes only a small proportion of the skilled workforce required by the industry.
“The responsibility therefore rests on this university to prepare young Africans who will not merely seek employment but become innovators, regulators, researchers, entrepreneurs and global leaders within the aviation ecosystem,” he said.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr Mustapha Abdullahi, warned newly admitted students against cutting corners in their studies, stressing that incompetence in the aviation industry could cost lives.
Abdullahi said aviation remained an industry where precision, discipline and competence were non-negotiable, noting that poorly trained professionals could have disastrous consequences.
“A poorly trained engineer can bring down an aircraft. A careless weather forecaster can endanger hundreds of lives.
“A dishonest safety inspector can compromise an entire aviation ecosystem, while an ill-trained aviation manager can damage a multi-billion-dollar investment.
“There is absolutely no room for mediocrity in aviation,” he said.
He said the university was established to produce highly skilled professionals capable of addressing Africa’s growing demand for aviation manpower.
According to him, the global aviation industry is expanding rapidly, while Africa continues to face a shortage of qualified professionals required to sustain the growth.
“Our mission is not simply to award degrees. Our mission is to produce competent professionals, innovative researchers, responsible leaders and solution providers who will shape the future of aviation and aerospace on the continent,” he said.
The acting vice-chancellor said the university had recorded significant growth since its establishment.
He said AAAU began academic activities in 2023 with 29 undergraduate students but had grown its enrolment to 311 students within three years.
Abdullahi added that the institution had also expanded its professional training programmes, increasing the number of aviation professionals trained from 162 in 2023 to more than 500.
He disclosed that over 50 postgraduate students had successfully defended their master’s degree dissertations, while the university was preparing for its maiden convocation next year to graduate its pioneer undergraduate students.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Governing Council and Pro-Chancellor of the university, Alhaji Bukar Aji, described aviation as one of the fastest-growing sectors with enormous career opportunities.
Aji urged the students to take advantage of the opportunities available in the industry and remain focused on building successful careers.
He also announced that the Governing Council had approved scholarships for four additional students under the university’s corporate social responsibility initiative.
He said the initiative, which had earlier sponsored six students, including four from host communities, was aimed at strengthening the university’s relationship with neighbouring communities.
Also, Dr Richard Aiseubeogun, Guest lecturer and former Managing Director, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said Africa contributes 75 billion dollars to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Aiseubeogun spoke on the lecture themed “Transforming Africa Through Aviation and Aerospace Education: The AAAU Vision”.
He noted that by 2047, Africa would be contributing about 190 billion dollars to the global GDP, stressing the need for wider opportunities for African in the air transport sector.
He, however, charged the institution on strengthening industry and academic partnership, expanding research funding and promoting aerospace research and investment.
