Aircraft inspector shortage at NCAA hits critical point, workforce overstretched

• Regulatory body to recruit 17 inspectors, agency training ground for airlines

The shortage of aircraft inspectors at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has reached a critical point, leaving the workforce severely overstretched.

The dearth of technical personnel is primarily driven by a massive pay gap between the regulator and the private sector, as well as the rapid expansion of the Nigerian aviation industry.

The aviation regulatory body is further put in a difficult position when it comes to hiring experienced inspectors, as it cannot compete with the salaries offered by airlines.

Flight operations inspectors are often senior pilots, and many are unwilling to take a 60% to 70% pay cut to work for the regulator.

The NCAA often recruits and trains young inspectors, only to lose them after 5–8 years. Once they gain specialised training and experience, they are frequently poached by airlines offering double or triple their government salary.

Finding highly experienced aircraft inspectors is herculean, given that many are well-advanced in age, hold an Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL), and have extensive experience as a Pilot-in-Command (PIC) of commercial aircraft—often requiring 5,000+ flight hours.

Because active, mid-career professionals cannot afford the pay cut, the NCAA is forced to rely heavily on retirees. While experienced, this results in a high turnover rate, as they stay only a few years, leading to a lack of continuity.

The NCAA has inadvertently become a taxpayer-funded training ground for airlines.

According to ICAO Doc 8335 and Doc 9760 (the Airworthiness Manual), inspectors must have technical experience that compares favourably with that of the personnel they regulate.

They generally must hold a University degree in a relevant engineering field (aeronautical, mechanical, electrical) or possess an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) License with significant type ratings.

ICAO guidance suggests specific ratios to prevent the exact overworking scenario currently seen in Nigeria.

While these are guidelines, they are used during ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) audits to judge a country’s safety health.

According to the rule, for single-piston aircraft, one inspector per 30 aircraft; for commercial turboprops/jets, the ratios are much tighter (often 1:5 or 1:10), depending on the complexity of the fleet and the avionics-to-mechanical balance.

An aircraft inspector with the NCAA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Aviation Metric that, with the small number of inspectors, old age is already creeping in and that work overload may have contributed to the slumping of some inspectors who passed recently.

He further disclosed that, as a result of the crisis in that department, the NCAA had decided to recruit 17 inspectors to fill the yawning gap.

“Many of the inspectors in the NCAA are old, with many of them as old as 80 years. Before you are recruited as an aircraft inspector, you must have clocked 5000 working hours as a pilot. The NCAA has three helicopter pilot inspectors. Helicopter numbers are growing. Workload for inspectors in the NCAA is extremely too much”.

The source further stated that there is a need for succession plans for institutions, noting that such plans, especially in the authority, had not existed in the last 20 years, thereby extricating the Director General of NCAA, Capt Chris Najomo, from a system he said he inherited.

Not a few believe that the shortage of aircraft inspectors at the agency is a complex problem driven by a widening gap between the industry’s growth and the stagnation of the regulator’s internal capacity.

While the number of inspectors has stagnated or declined, the workload has surged. In late 2025 and 2026, existing airlines have expanded their fleets, and new operators have recently been issued AOCs.

More state governments are building airports, expanding the geographic span of activities that inspectors must cover for surveillance and monitoring.

Wole Shadare