Reps Vows To Retrieve Sold Helicopters From Aviation College

• Reps Vows To Retrieve Sold Helicopters From Aviation College

• Concerns raised over sale to private individuals, leaving college without training aircraft.

• Investigative hearing in Abuja questions sale process amidst interest from security agencies.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the House of Representatives has pledged to retrieve two Bell helicopters, Bell 206L4 BZB and Bell M2061-L4, which were sold to private individuals, from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria.

During an investigative hearing in Abuja on Thursday, Ademorin Kuye, Chairman of the House Committee on Public Assets, expressed alarm over the sale of the helicopters to private buyers, leaving the college without any aircraft for training purposes.

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The committee raised concerns about the sale process, especially considering that security agencies like the Nigerian Air Force, Navy, and Police had shown interest in acquiring the helicopters.

The security agencies were, however, denied by the management of the NCAT.

The three security agencies, according to various submissions, did not only indicate interest in purchasing the helicopters by writing but also visited the college but were denied the opportunity to purchase them.

Acting Rector, NCAT, Mr Shaka Imalighwe, said though he was the deputy rector of the college at the time the helicopters were sold, he was not part of the team/committee that facilitated the sales.

Imalighwe said that he took over the management of the college in an acting capacity in January 2024.
The committee said despite initial appeals to NCAT to provide certain documents regarding the process that led to the sale of the helicopters in May 2023, they had not been able to provide it.

This, according to him, was in respect of approval of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, and the Ministry of aviation as well as newspaper publications advertising the intention to sell the helicopters.

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Imalighwe told the committee that the helicopters were in service and being maintained by relevant aviation bodies when they were sold.

The acting rector of the college also confirmed to the lawmakers that, at the moment, there was no single helicopter.

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