The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, disclosed that Nigeria would establish the first university in Africa dedicated to aviation and aerospace.
Rasheed stated this on Friday after the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, shared a note containing the concept of the university with the NUC.
He said that the university would move from concept to reality by month end.
“I can assure you that by the end of the month (July), we are going to have a brand new University, the first of its kind in Abuja, first African University dedicated to aviation and aerospace study in the country,” Rasheed asserted.
He added, “This aviation under your guidance, will be the first to show the way that we can support the establishment of a specialized university that won’t only serve us but serve the African region and the International community.”
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Sirika, giving his remarks on the subject, said that a gap in the growth of civil aviation had been identified after the current administration took power.
He added that the country was “deficient” in research and development in the aviation field.
The minister said, “When we took the leadership in civil aviation, we identified and understood the gap in the growth and development of civil aviation in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. We are deficient in research and development in civil aviation and aerospace technology and that has caused a lot of underdevelopment of the sector and made us to be backward.
“We have been working three to four years now on this and we developed a concept note based on the advice by Executive Secretary NUC for critique and that will fast track the process of setting up the University. We have come up with concept note of what will be the focus of this University.”
“The potential of this University to serve the market of civil aviation and aerospace within the continent cannot be overemphasized. Once the University takes off, a lot will happen and it will change the dynamic.”
