As part of activities to mark the international girl child day, a group of Nigerian female pilots known as the Niger Aviatrix group brought together about twenty school girls to share with them their experiences and insights into lives and careers in piloting.
The school girls who were hosted at the Kaduna International airport, were shown different kinds of aircrafts, the airport runways and also flown in a small aircraft by the female pilots.
According to the Coordinator, Experience Aviation, Captain Ryakeng Gidado, the event was the first of it’s kind and it was aimed at encouraging girl children to study any career of their choices as long as they were capable and determined.
Difficulties people attribute
She dismissed the perceptions and difficulties people attribute to piloting career, hence making it look like a career only meant for the males.
“Globally, there are only 5% of female pilots and it’s not a good number. So we are giving these girls the opportunity to interact with us, share our challenges and success stories with them in order to encourage them”, he said.
She called on the girls to study hard and become pilots too, stressing that, if they could do it despite many challenges and recorded successes, the girls could do better too in future.
Flew in an aircraft
One of the girls, Rachel Haruna, expressed delight for being part of the event and especially because she flew in an aircraft for the first time in her life.
She said the experience was wonderful as she promised to study hard to become a pilot so as to inspire other girls in future.
Ryakeng disclosed that the event which was organised by the Niger Aviatrix group in collaboration with the Experience Aviation, was sponsored by Brinkle Aero flying Club Kaduna which also provided the aircraft in which the girls flew.
Lateefah Ibrahim
