By Daniel Eteghe

Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren has decried the shortage of workforce in the transportation industry stressing that all that is left in the industry at the moment is aging workforce who could hardly do the job.

Speaking at a Transport Sector and Human Resources Forum organised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management in Nigeria (CIPMN) with the theme “Manpower Development as a Catalyst for Effective and Efficient Management of Transport System in Nigeria” in Alausa, Ikeja, Dr. Demuren noted that the decay in the transport sector, including the aviation sector, were similar, advising government to have efficient manpower development system in place.  .

“Nigeria has ageing workforce and we must replace them with the young ones to avoid accident. We need quality people to man the transport sector.

“Aviation has been a key driver of national development. We create about 3.6 million employments in the sector annually,” he said.

Demuren further predicted that international aviation would be doubled in the next 20 years adding that if nothing was done urgently that the demand for aviation professionals would be strained. He added that the major problem in the nation was the migration of the Nigerian youths to other countries.

Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of the occasion, Dr Grant Akata affirmed that the decay recorded in the transport sector has led to a drastic decline in employment skill. According to Akata, the transport sector had the potential to mop up youths and offer them gainful employment locally.