High rate of unemployed pilots in Nigeria - a Nigerian pilot writes

A Nigerian pilot writes about the high rate of unemployment for pilots in Nigeria. Read below...

Achieving the dream of becoming a pilot is a very long and frustrating path to follow, it takes pure will and  determination  to earn a commercial pilot license. The very moment you make up your mind about joining possibly the most exhilarating career on the planet, the struggle begins which includes raising the funds for your flight training which frankly isn't a joke. On average a pilot spends nothing less than N10million on flight training. 

The funds needed to see a pilot through flight school is nothing compared to the stress and mental concentration needed to attain a commercial pilot license.

One would expect that after all the struggles of of getting a commercial pilot license, the will always be job openings to crown the efforts of the ever growing number of pilots fresh out of flight schools. Sadly this is not the case, as a matter of fact there are over 200 unemployed pilots presently in nigeria with some pilots being out of jobs for over 3 years.

This number is constantly rising as there are more Nigerians finishing from flight schools all over the world on a daily basis to return home and join the saturated market of unemployed pilots. This is a sad situation because some pilots had to take loans from relatives and in some cases banks just to achieve there dreams, which right now is a nightmare.

The depression and frustration of unemployed pilots in nigeria is being fueled by the high amount of expatriates pilots working in nigeria while Nigerians are lavishing at home with no jobs. It's really sad that the airlines in nigeria prefer hiring this expatriates pilots when in their countries you can't get the same job if you are not a citizen or permanent residence in most cases.

Job creation is a fundamental responsibility of the government in power, that being said the nigerian government has been siting idle about the issue of unemployed pilots in nigeria hence allowing it to escalate to this stage.  The government cant force private aircraft owners to employ any of the unemployed, but government can support the airlines in this country through subsidized operational costs, government bail-out to airlines struggling in debt, passed laws that favors Nigerian citizens than expatriates and ultimately create a NATIONAL CARRIER, which is the foremost cause of the problem. It's a shame that the most populous country in Africa is without a national carrier.

 The reasons giving by airlines why the don't hire pilots straight out of flight school is that they are inexperienced and without type rating, then again how can pilots get this experience when they are not hired. General aviation is really not practiced in nigeria which is another way young inexperienced pilot can build flight hours which is the proof of your experience by flying smaller planes for banner towing, sight seeing, pipelines inspections, tourism, skydiving, aerial photography and flight instructing.

The future is uncertain for so many pilots in this great country and a drastic change is needed urgently.