The Airforce Institute of Technology (AFIT), which is the research and development(R&Ds) arm of the Nigeria Airforce (NAF) and the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) have taken up the challenge of completing all works on the first Made-in-Nigeria helicopter initiated by NASENI.
This was disclosed in a statement issued yesterday by the deputy director, information of NASENI, Mr Olusegun Ayeoyenikan, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the chairman of the Governing Board of NASENI, had directed that the helicopter should be launched before the end of his administration in 2023.
Recently, in order to fast-track works on the Helicopter Project, the president directed the relocation of the Project from NASENI’s site in Abuja to AFIT in Kaduna, Kaduna State.
The official handover of space and hanger (Helipad) including the runway for test-flight of the Helicopter located in Airforce Institute took place yesterday in Kaduna, the statement said.
NASENI in 2017 entered into technical agreement with Dynali Helicopter Company in Belgium for the actualisation of the project before the latest directive by the president that the project should be expanded to include collaboration with AFIT and the subsequent relocation of the project for its continuation at the Airforce Institute in Kaduna.
While briefing the commandant of AFIT, the executive vice chairman/chief executive of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna explained that part of the presidential directives was that all NASENI projects in Aeronautics should be relocated to AFIT and to be included in the collaborations between the two institutions.
“In other words, in the wisdom of Mr President, both military science and knowledge by civilians should be harnessed for the benefits of the larger Nigeria society, going forward,” Haruna said.
In his response, the commandant of AFIT, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Aminu Yakubu said that the directive from the President “is a task that both NASENI and AFIT must carry out with all the resources that are required to bring the dream to pass”. “We are determined to collaborate to make the dream on the made-in-Nigeria helicopter become a reality”, he said.
President Buhari’s directive also stated that AFIT shall provide space and a helipad for the NASENI helicopter and to relocate the project to AFIT so that the two institutions could collaborate.
Air Vice Marshal Yakubu said the collaboration between NASENI & AFIT was the clincher collaboration to launch Nigeria into relevance in the world of aviation with the proposed involvement in aircraft design and development.
He said the Airforce is at the verge of developing unmanned aerial vehicles. He added that AFIT has gone very far in the design and manufacturing of air vehicles, stating further that the collaboration to produce the first Made- in-Nigeria helicopter between the two organisations was sacrosanct and therefore would be pursued with vigour in the days and months ahead.
According to the terms of the collaboration, some NASENI technical staff will be resident in AFIT for adequate interface for the purpose of sharing knowledge and technical capacity.
