The Rector, the International Aviation College, Ilorin, Kwara State, Captain Folaleye Akinkuotu, has said that the aviation college has assisted a student from another institution, Mr. Mohammed Usman, who had a private pilot licence to become a full-fledged commercial pilot.

In an interview with our correspondent in Ilorin, he stated that the institution and the pilot trainees had the challenge of finance, adding that there was the need to assist the pilot trainees to meet their financial needs.

He stated that the institution had been reaching out to corporate institutions to assist the students.

Akinkuotu also appealed to philanthropists to assist the students, stressing that flying and pilot training were not cheap.

"Recently, we helped in finishing the training of another student in Nigeria who started training in another institution. He arrived here with his private pilot licence but we were able to take him in and he is now a full-fledged commercial pilot with multi-engine and instrument. All of which he passed in one day.

"It is commendable that the college was able to assist this student to cross over and meet the challenge of becoming a commercial pilot. We have demonstrated even ahead of time that we can prepare, train and even qualify students," he said.

The rector also said that nine out of the 12 students admitted at the inception of training by the aviation college had passed their private pilot examination.

He added that eight out of the nine students had progressed in their training for private pilot licence.

He stated that the students could graduate in April 2013. According to him, with this feat, it means that the courses were completed in 16 months as against the 18 months initially planned for the programme.

"We had promised to graduate students in 18 months but we are working hard to accomplish the feat in 16 months. That will be a great feat compared with other institutions which had undertaken this kind of project. The ground and flight training had done quite well."

Akinkuotu said that people were showing interest in pilot training regardless of the cost implication.

According to him, the institution has started the second phase of its pilot training.

He added that nine out of 11 students admitted in June had already finished their private pilot examination and had started their private pilot flight training.

He said that in standard, the aviation college could compare favourably with the best aviation training college in the world, adding that with the standard of tutorials, equipment and practice, there was no need for student pilots to train abroad.

He urged pilot trainees and their sponsors to have faith and show commitment to Nigerian aviation colleges.

"In November, we conducted another assessment and we have made offers to 20 students to start the programme by second week of December. We are waiting for their response.

"The plan for the college is to take three streams annually. Each year, we expect 20 each of the stream, which means that we would have trained about 60 pilots at different stages. When we started in January, we were expected to have admitted 20 students but we had 12."

"In June, we had an intake of 11 students, 10 of them had passed their private pilot ground examinations and they have started their private pilot flight training," Akinkuotu said.