Kano state government has awarded special scholarship worth NI.07 billion or 6.715 million USD, to 100 young graduates from the state, for an 18 months professional pilot training course at Mid-East Aviation Academy, Jordan.
Mid-East Aviation Academy is a flight training organization that offers courses in pilot training, aircraft engineering and avionics, and is certified by the Jordanian Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission.
Speaking during a send forth ceremony held for the trainees at the Government House, Kano, the state governor, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso described the programme as a watershed in the history of the state, which he said is in line with the human capital development agenda of his administration.Our vision is to equip Kano citizens to face the challenges of globalization and to take advantage of abundant local and international opportunities to improve their lot, said the governor, adding that foreign training will expose beneficiaries of the training to best practices in aircraft management in addition to fostering global citizenship. Governor Kwankwaso added that the government is deliberately creating avenues for its citizens to acquire education in all fields of human endeavour owing to the fact that investing in knowledge brings about accelerated social change and sustainable technological progress.
He therefore charged beneficiaries of the training not to squander the opportunity, but to justify the huge investment by excelling in the programme and by being responsible people when they eventually take up jobs as licensed pilots anywhere around the globe.
The governor, recalled that in less than two years, the state government has offered overseas scholarships to hundreds of Kano citizens to go for graduate and postgraduate courses, based on the conviction that the level of greatness of the state depends squarely on the level of education of its citizens.
In his keynote address on the occasion, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Aviation, Captain Shehu Iyal, described the sponsorship of 100 youths to train as pilots by a state government as “a novel thing in the history of aviation in Nigeria.
Capt. Iyal, who described the move as in consonance with the Federal government’s transformation agenda, charged the trainees to be good ambassadors of the country, stressing that their training requires discipline, orderliness and respect for hierarchy among other attributes.
Others who spoke during the occasion, including the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, who was represented by Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, the Saudi Arabian Consul in Kano, Sheikh Majeed al-Qahtani and an ICPC Commissioner, Professor Olu Aina praised Governor Kwankwaso for demonstrating unequalled sense of vision and leadership, expressing optimism that the gesture will help move Kano in particular and Nigeria as a whole to the next level.