The Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), both in Zaria have set up a 4-man committee to explore possible areas the two Institutions can collaborate. Names of the newly constituted Committee members are Engr. Waheed Yusuf (NCAT), Mr. Y.A Baba (NCAT), Dr. Danjuma Ismaila (NITT), and Engr. Elkana Ngbale (NITT).
The decision was taken during a Courtesy call on the NCAT Rector, Capt. Abdulsalami Mohammed, by the Acting Director General/Chief Executive of NITT, Dr. Abimbola O. Odumosu. The Committee was charged with the responsibility of finding out mutually beneficial areas of synergy and complementarities, and report back to the management of the Institutions for harmonization and possible implementation.
Elaborating the aspects he would like the newly constituted committee to focus, Dr. Odumosu observed that it is imperative for the two Institutions to collaborate given their distinctive spheres of specialization. He noted that although the sister organizations had been cooperating, there was still room for improvement. According to the NITT Boss, collaboration should be based on “sustainable and empirical research on all modes of transport, information Data Bank for enhanced risk analysis, and staff exchange to save cost”.
The Ag. DG/CE suggested that NCAT could make use of the facilities at NITT’s study centre in Lagos during its outreach training programmes.
Responding, the Rector of NCAT, Capt. Abdulsalami Mohammed, while thanking the NITT management for the visit largely acceded to the issues raised by his counterpart. Capt. Abdulsalami asserted that such collaborations are critically important adding that lack of them could be counterproductive. According to the Rector, “lack of collaboration is the bane of private airlines in Nigeria”, which in his view often resulted in unhealthy competition and eventual bankruptcy.
Capt. Abdulsalami also observed that the idea of collaborating on Research and Development (R&D) was both timely and welcome. He acknowledged the dearth of Research and Development at NCAT, but promised to address it especially, with the prospective collaboration with NITT.
On information Data Bank, the Rector promised to make aviation accident reports available to NITT. Capt. Abdulsalami frowned at the tampering of the black box by certain first responders which unfortunately culminated in non-recovery of the black box. He however was optimistic that the enlightenment programme for the Police initiated by the Accident Investigation Board (AIB) on the location, recognition and/or identification of the black box would yield a positive result.
While noting that NCAT would be co-opting more ICAO compliant NITT staff as resource persons, the Rector directed his Personal Assistant to assess NITT’s facilities in Lagos and report back to him.
