“Bristow Nigeria Operations has the largest number of Nigerians at the management level,” Engineer Akin Oni

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By Tayo Adelaja

Published: June 10, 2010

 

Engineer Akin Oni

 

“Bristow Nigeria Operations has the largest number of Nigerians at the management level,” Engineer Akin Oni

 

Engineer Akin Oni sat down with Tayo Adelaja and Shamsydeen Badmus in Lagos to discuss Bristow Group’s efforts in Nigeria and its plan towards Nigerianization in 2015; excerpts:

Q: Recently, the company signed a $1.5m agreement with NCAT, Zaria to provide technical support for the school, what informed this decision?

A: We have been in discussion with NCAT over the years. We were looking at assisting the school to build capacity and capability. There is no helicopter Engineering School in Nigeria at the moment. Personnel are mostly being trained in the UK, Canada, USA, and India. It takes a lot to bring in expatriates. Supporting NCAT makes it easier to support our operations in Nigeria. In NCAT, engineers spent 3years and come out with basic license. Meanwhile, it takes about 7years to build an engineer.  We felt challenged with the above scenario and the dearth of trained and skilled personnel in our organisation. When we started an intensive process to increase the number of engineers in our organization, we went to NCAT with our engineers, out of the discussions we had with the school came several ideas by which we can add values to the school. We are going to assist the school by providing laboratories for them, and we intend to also bring in highly experienced personnel to assist the school from schools and organizations in the United States. The classrooms shall be refurbished to meet the required world standard. We are looking at making the school conducive for learning, while increasing the number of trained personnel in Nigeria.

Q: What is the company policy on Indigenous recruitment and training?

A: Bristow Nigeria Operations has the largest number of Nigerians at the management level in line with the company policy of developing a large indigenous workforce and management to maximize local representation, while positively encouraging the communities the company has representation around the world. We are in the process of recruiting engineers. This is the Bristow’s 27th year of training programme that is Helicopter training. When the company placed an advertisement for recruitment of engineers, over 3000 applied from all over the country. Of the lots, 240 have been selected for final interview. The selection criteria are based solely on merit. We want to have people who are capable of handling helicopters, thus we have a rainbow coalition, that is if you are a Nigerian you are capable you get selected.

The selected candidates will undergo rigorous test, which includes aptitude and detailed medical test. A lot of candidates were dropped after failing this detailed medical test. The last phase of the interview is mentally tasking, as the candidates are given task and the interviewer will see how they can fix it. That test which is a problem solving exercise test the ability to focus, leadership and the reasoning power because we are in a safety related business.

After the interview, parents signed a bond with Bristow because of the cost of the training. The training takes place at the largest helicopter training in the world- Florida in USA and it belongs to us. It cost us about $210,000 to train our candidates that are successful in the interview. Actually, I am one of the lucky ones who got selected through same process and I am still here today and proud to be with the group.  The training in Bristow Academy often last for a year or more depending on the weather. At the end of the course, they were awarded a certificate that makes them a commercial pilot officer.

 

Q: After the training and with the number of people Bristow is training how do you integrate them into the system?

A: It is important to note that we introduce them gradually into the system. Towards the end of the course, say two to three months a decision is made in Lagos as to the type of helicopters they will be flying. There is a system of reports whereby they are monitored and reports are sent in on monthly basis. We have conversion training whereby they go for further training before they would be fully integrated into the system. This takes a month or longer. There are three layers of training before they can now fly the commercial aircraft. 

Q: How many of your trainees can you keep in the system?

A: It is a challenge. We are facing it squarely too. We won’t take more than we can accommodate. We have a lot of pressure to Nigerianise. The limit of what the system can take is the limit. We have a target of 2015 to be fully Nigerianise. Presently, Bristow has been the major source of providing the highly needed skilled personnel to this sector and evidence abound within the oil and gas sector. We had that responsibility of retaining those we spent so much on in our system. We have 51 operational aircraft in Nigeria today. However, a lot of this is helicopters. In the business, we have a market share of about 55 percent.  

Q: How threatened are you by competition?

A: No, no, no we are not afraid of competition, particularly when it is healthy. We are not taking competition for granted, but there are a lot of opportunities in the country. Bristow Helicopters is the largest aviation company in Nigeria, with 51 aircraft consisting mainly helicopters. Since 1958, Bristow has been actively operating in the country. Beginning with crop spraying in the Owerri oil plantations, it later refocused on the oil and gas industry in the 1960s. Today, Nigeria is Bristow’s second largest operation, second only to the European Business Unit, which includes Scotland, Norway and the Netherlands. However, if classified by country, Nigeria is Bristow’s largest market.

In May, 2006, Bristow Group had a contract with Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (Shell Nigeria) for an additional twenty-four months. Under this contract, the company provided and operated two AS332 Super Puma helicopter and two Sikorsky S76 helicopters, the contract estimated at $53m. We are going through a period where there are not many activities because many oil companies are concerned about the petroleum industry. We just hope that with increased activities, things will pick up. It is a very competitive environment.

 

 

 

 

 

Q: What are the major challenges of Bristow operations in the country?

A: Inadequate personnel and the huge age gap has been a major challenge not only to us but the industry in general. Also, we do not receive and we do not take, that is becoming a big problem. Really, it’s a huge problem if we have to get things done, we plan 6 months ahead. What that means is that we have to carry inventories and huge amount. We have our code of ethics, and some of our competitors with the same business ethic codes will face same issues. 

 

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