PRESS STATEMENT
President Buhari Directs Nigeria AIRFORCE & NASENI to Partner on Made-in-Nigeria Helicopter and Air-Vehicles Development Facilities.
The Nigeria Air Force and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure(NASENI) are joining hands in furtherance of efforts to complete work on the Presidential directive that NASENI manufactures 1st Made in Nigeria Helicopter.
President Buhari had directed NASENI that he would officially launch the commercial helicopter currently in the works by the Agency before the expiration of his administration in 2023.
During a meeting today in Kaduna,the Chief executive of Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT),Kaduna, Air Vice Marshall Musbau Olumide Olatunji and NASENI’s Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Mohammed Sani Haruna agreed to work together on the completion of work on the first made In Nigeria Helicopter as directed by President Buhari.
Both NASENI and AFIT chief executives also agreed to establish a centre of excellence for Air Vehicles Development as fallouts and diversification to the successful completion of work on the Made-in-Nigeria helicopter project.
The Centre of excellence, when fully operational, would carry out research and development(R&D’s), training of manpower, reversed engineering of aircrafts components and parts including diversification of air vehicles or crafts for other critical purposes like security, agriculture and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
According to Air Vice Marshall Olatunji, the Nigeria Air Force Institute was pleased to receive directives from Mr.President to work with NASENI on the Nigeria Helicopter project.
“It is a thing of pride and we are delighted in the Nigeria Air Force for us to collaborate in the areas of research and development, aircraft design and manufacturing which would form a central focus for the proposed centre of excellence by NASENI to be located at the Air force Institute in Kaduna” He said.
NASENI’s Chief Executive, Prof.Haruna explained that one of the advantages of AFIT and NASENI’s partnership was the potential to bypass most of the technical bottlenecks which similar efforts to domesticate technologies always encountered by NASENI while working with organizations overseas in order to achieve such national socio-economic objectives.
The proposed centre of Excellence between NASENI and AFIT will carry out amongst others:Hanger training. Pilot training and Air vehicle technology research and development.
Further works on the collaboration between NASENI and AFIT according to Air Vice Marshall Olatunji was expected to extend to the adoption of NASENI’s Mini-hydro electric generation system and the deployment of the Agency’s renewable energy facilities so that AFIT, going forward, could depend less on national grid for its electricity generation.
NASENI and the Nigeria Airforce had well over six years of working agreement with the memorandum of Understanding (MoU) duly signed by the two institutions.
SIGNED:
Olusegun Ayeoyenikan
Deputy Director, (Information)
NASENI
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