Following a provisional approval by the National Universities Commission, (NUC), all is now set for the take-off of the African Aviation and Aerospace University, AAAU, Abuja.
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika stated this Friday during an interactive session with pressmen in Abuja.
Sirika said the initiative is a major component of the Nigeria’s aviation roadmap. Sirika added that it was borne out of the need to go into research and development in the areas of aerospace and aviation.
“We have a need to establish a university dedicated to that and it has taken a very long time. We have been on it since 2016 because it is a rigorous exercise. We need to go through all of the requirements by National Universities Commission, NUC.” Sirika stated.
He added that the NUC “Have been very cooperative and supportive and guided us through the process. They provided support. So here we are today with the university about to start.
“The name of the University will be the African Aviation and Aerospace university. We named it Africa because the intent is for it to be a Pan-African university that will support the entire continent. This is so because in our contacts and in our appropriation to have this university come up, we did indeed contacted people in the country and outside.
“We contacted many universities that are aerospace and aviation related and also International Civil Aviation Authority, the African Civil Aviation Commission, AFCAC and many others and all these calibrated into what we have and the focus of the university as a university for aviation and aerospace.”
The Minister added that the varsity has been given a land allocation in the nation’s capital, saying, “the university has been given a location very close to the airport area by the government and it will be established there.
“This university is supposed to be a hybrid university, on campus as well as online university. We have The provisional approval by the NUC.
“We will be partnering with Nile university in Abuja. We have a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU which will be signed hopefully by Monday for official partnership but we have discussed and agreed and it is just the formality for the signing (remaining).”
In the interim, Sirika said lectures would commence at the temporal campus at the Accident Investigation Bureau headquarters, as well as the Nile University campus, Abuja.
While noting that registration would commence from September 26-November 18 this year, Sirika said the institution is targeting 20 students each to enlist to study Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Business and Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Meteorology.