Santos Aviation, an aircraft interior engineering, and maintenance company registered in Georgia, United States of America, is currently making inroads into the Nigerian aviation industry with a view to transferring technology and creating jobs for many Nigerians.
The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Engineer Segun Adesanya, disclosed during a media briefing with aviation correspondents in Lagos that the company’s primary aim is to transfer technology to the Nigerian aviation sector and contribute to the economy by creating more jobs for Nigerians.
To achieve this, Adesanya said the company intends to hire more Nigerians and train them than bring in expatriates.
“The primary reason why we came to Nigeria is to transfer technology. And for us to do that, we can’t be recruiting people from there (the USA) to come over here to work. It’s not really helping the economy. When you see all these expatriates in the country, I bet you that 99.9 per cent of them don’t have Nigerian accounts; they make payments to their accounts in their foreign land.
“We came here purposely to be able to transfer some ideas, some knowledge which we have acquired outside the country. And we are not the first to do this; the Indians did it, the Iranians did it to develop their country. The only difference is that the governments of the Iranians, the Indians, and the Pakistanis, for example, support their citizens. But here, Nigerians are supporting Nigerians. So we are going to hire more people over here,” said Adesanya.
He added that the company is also working on a long-term project which will pave way for more Nigerians to become certified engineers by the FAA.
According to him, the company has a working partnership with one major airline in the country and looks forward to taking the initiative further by partnering with a polytechnic to train Nigerians on aviation programmes.
“One of the ideas we are considering right now is to be able to do some training by ourselves, which we’ve been doing. We’ve been training a few Nigerians who are Nigerian Civil Aviation licensed engineers over here. We train them to have FAA certification. We are going to hire a few Nigerians that we are going to train for almost two years. They will be reading some textbooks and doing some online training but they will be working on the aircraft to be able to grasp what we are teaching them. And at the end of two years, we will sign them off and pass them on to the FAA who will give them airframe licence.
“In addition to that, we are presently talking to one major airline in the country whereby we can partner with them and be able to train their employees at the same time. Hopefully, with the support of this airline, we will be looking to do our long-term project which is to partner with the airline and a polytechnic so they can be able to train people on aviation programmes,” Adesanya said.
On how he intends to attract patronage from airlines, Adesanya said the airlines now have a choice to make between spending huge amounts of money to do their repairs abroad or spending less by patronizing Santos Aviation in the country.
Highlighting the company’s forte and why he is so sure of its success in the West African region, Adesanya said aircraft interior maintenance is key to success in the airline business, as passengers are attracted by what they see in and around the aircraft.
“Primarily, what we do is focus more on aircraft interiors. The reason is that many people don’t realize the value of maintenance, especially in Nigeria. But maintenance recognition is really the appealing point of customers who are flying commercial airlines. If you want to fly Air Peace or Arik Air, for example, passengers don’t really pay attention to whether the engine is good or not. But when they see the aircraft paint job, the vibrant colour of the aircraft appeals to customers first.
“And as they go inside, if the seats are more comfortable, especially when the seat covers are almost brand new or appealing, you feel more comfortable just like your living room. And when the flight attendants are nicely dressed in a more appealing way and everywhere is neat, you will enjoy your flight; and that gives you value for your money because you’ve paid for that service. That’s why we focus more on the aircraft interior.
“You can testify to the condition of the aircraft seats. Some seats are wrapped with masking tape. I’m sorry to say but that’s the reality. And that’s not really a good image. Not necessarily because of the foreigners coming into the country, but because you are paying for that service. When you purchase a ticket, you are not telling them that you will take the flight with a broken armrest. You’ve done your part paying for the service; they have to do their own part, too, to give you the comfort that you deserve,” he said.
Source: vanguardngr.com