Why we have interest in Nigeria — Santos Aviation

The first aircraft interior maintenance company in West and Central Africa owned by Nigerians but based in the United States has attributed its main reason for coming into the country’s aviation sector since 2015 to its resolve to help transfer technology and grow manpower as well as create job opportunities in the sector.

The General Manager, Santos Aviation, Segun Adesanya, while speaking to some aviation journalists in Lagos, said the firm was in Nigeria to transfer some ideas and expertise gathered outside the country and use it to impart the sector as well as train Nigerians to the point of certification.

Santos Aviation is one of the four in Africa whose main function is to design the interior of aircraft with the refurbishment of aircraft seats, leather seats upgrade, cabin noise reduction, carpet biding, door panel repairs among others.

Santos, according to Adesanya, has a United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certification to maintain the interior of aircraft that are manufactured or registered in the United States ranging from Boeings to Gulfstream and Cessna.

While emphasizing the valuable importance of the firm to the aviation sector in Nigeria, Adesanya said it would be economically beneficial to both the airlines and the country to engage its services which he said would drastically reduce capital flight as well as keep aircraft on the ground (AOG) for long while waiting on queue for such services outside the country.

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His words: “The primary reason why we came to Nigeria is to transfer technology and for us to transfer technology we must be here. When you see these expatriates, it’s not really helping the economy. I bet you 99.9 per cent of them don’t have Nigerian accounts; you make payments to their foreign accounts.

”We came over here purposely to transfer some ideas, knowledge we acquired outside the country over the years. We are not the only ones who do this; the Indians did it, the Iranians did it and the only difference is that the Indian government, the Iranian government supported their people more than Nigeria is supporting its own.”

He used the opportunity to hint at plans by Santos Aviation to hire a few people from outside the country who are Nigerians but have acquired certification and training that they would impact on Nigerians like expatriates.

Santos Aviation, he said, will equally be training Nigerians for two years and in the end, the beneficiaries will go through the process to get FAA licences.

On the benefits the airlines in Nigeria stand to gain from the services of Santos, Adesanya declared: ”if you take your aeroplane outside Nigeria, you will fly the plane in and during that time the aircraft is grounded, you are losing money, it can be eight to ten weeks without flying. Another thing I want you to take into consideration is that some aircraft owners after they take up a lot of bills don’t have the money to pay and the aircraft will be there more than scheduled and all the time losing money.”