Buhari Sends 6 Aviation Bills to National Assembly for Passage

• Buhari Sends 6 Aviation Bills to National Assembly for Passage

President Muhammadu Buhari has sent six bills on aviation to the National Assembly for passage into law.

The six bills are Civil Aviation Bill, 2019; Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria Bill, 2019; Nigerian College of Airspace Management Agency (Establishment) Bill, 2019; Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (Establishment) Bill, 2019; Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Establishment) Bill, 2019, and Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (Establishment) Bill, 2019.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan, who received the bills, said the request was in “pursuant to Section 58 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)” and President Muhammadu Buhari had requested that 6 bills “be considered for passage into law by the Senate”.

Abdulsalam Mohammed, the rector of Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, who spoke on the college bill, said the Act establishing the college was established in the 1960s and has not been reviewed despite numerous changes to the industry. This amendment bill seeks to address these changes.

“Over the years, the college has grown into what it is today; we are a regional training centre of excellence. We award ND and Higher National Diploma (HND) as approved by the National
Board of Technical Education. The Act establishing us doesn’t give us the status of a tertiary institution legally and because of that we cannot access Tertiary Education Trust Fund,” Mohammed said.

“These are some of the benefits we intend to get and it will also give us the opportunity to be able to conduct more courses and training programmes at a higher level. Aviation training organisations like the ones in the United States and Singapore are accorded the same status as tertiary institutions. That is what we hope to get by the passage of the bill,” he explained.