Recently, President Bola Tinubu announced his plan to split the Campus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria into campuses in the six Geopolitical zones. According to the plans, new campuses will be built in Akure Ondo, Ilorin, Osubi, Ebonyi and Yola.
But a Yoruba insider who knows the in and out of the Nigerian aviation industry told us that Bola Tinubu has no plan to build any other campus, but part of a strategy to move the college from Zaria to Yorubaland, as part of the plan to make the South West a thriving aviation capital of Africa.
This scheme disguised as “decentralisation” was said to be birthed by Mr Biodun Taiwo and Ms Florence Toyin Olorunfemi, both members of the Governing Council of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria.
Before we unveil the hidden agenda behind this master strategy, let’s look at how Tinubu strategically positioned his kinsmen in strategic positions in order to take over the aviation industry. We will then go ahead and prove that the eventual relocation of NCAT from Zaria to Yorubaland is the final stage of this agenda.
Immediately he came into office , Tinubu sacked all Arewa Directors in the aviation industry and replaced them with his Yoruba Kinsmen.
1. The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Kabir Yusuf Mohammed, has been removed from office and replaced with Mrs. Olubunmi Oluwaseun Kuku as the substantive Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
2. Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Engr Umar Ahmad Farouk, has been removed from office and replaced with Mr Adetunji Odunowo as the substantive Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.
3. Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu, has been removed from office and replaced with Prof. Charles Anosike as the substantive Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.
4. Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Capt. Alkali Mahmud Modibbo has been removed from office and replaced with Mr. Joseph Shaka Imalighwe as the Acting Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT
5. Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Shuaibu Nuhu has been suspended from office and replaced with Capt. Chris Najomo
The Minister of Aviation is also another Yoruba man, Mr Festus Keyamo.
As if he knew of the relocation plan, the newly appointed Rector of NCAT Zaria, Mr Shaka Joseph illegally auctioned/sold the College’s newly-acquired helicopters (Bell 206 Helicopter 206-L4 BZB and BZC-M2061 L4) at a price below 60% of their cost price. The issue is with the National Assembly. Now, the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria is operating without a single helicopter!
Together with Festus Keyamo, he attempted to relocate the critical firefighting simulation equipment from NCAT Zaria to Lagos, it took the intervention of Northern Elders Forum to scuttle the plan. This came after the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria Headquarters was relocated from it’s original location in Abuja to Lagos.
At this point, we should ask ourselves this question: why is Tinubu trying to build five more campuses when the only one we have does not even have a single helicopter for training ?
NCAT Zaria is grossly underfunded. Each student has to pay 20 million Naira for the training.
When they cannot fund even one school, where will they get the funds to operate six ?
The reality is that Tinubu and Keyamo do not have the intentions to build any other campus. Even if we assume, it will be impossible to complete the projects in the remaining two years of Tinubu’s administration. The plot is to accelerate that of the Yorubaland and leave you with uncompleted projects
At this point, we should ask ourselves why is it even necessary to create more campuses. At at 2024, only 16 students were admitted for the main programme. Is the school overpopulated, lacking amenities or what else necessitate the campuses? None. The college even recently acquired a hostel at the cost of 1.3 billion naira. Or are the students going to shuttle across the campuses in their levels/course of studies?
If you look at the fund earmarked for the establishment of the “regional annexes”, the whole set-up becomes more suspicious. N3.7 billion Naira cannot set up any campus, talkless of that of aviation. The plan is to leave you with an empty fenced land with a signboard.
Aviation equipment are expensive and if Tinubu really want to open new campuses, he will have budgeted hundreds of billions.
Northern Elders must stop the attempt to distribute the equipment of NCAT Zaria in the guise of “helping the sister campuses take up”. Northern elders must also ensure that all campuses are built simulationeously
A SOUTHERN VILLAGE IN THE HEART OF ZARIA
There are approximately no northerners in NCAT Zaria. During my course, I was the only Northerner in my class. For a long time, southerners are bittered that they have to come all the way to the North when in reality, it is a “Yoruba” school.
The reason why there are no northerners in the school is because of the tuition fee. All my classmates were sponsored by their state governments. Joseph Saka, the new rector recently increased the fee from 14 million naira to 23.1 million naira.
When the Yoruba campus finally opens, NCAT Zaria will become empty which will necessitate it’s closure and/or movement of equipment (in the guise that the campus is no longer sustainable/no students).
Even if Northern Elders succeeded in halting the movement of equipments and the SW are forced to get them using the federal budget, NCAT Zaria will still meets it’s dearth since there are no students. It will eventually be closed or left only in its caricature.
My comment: Northerners should recover their banks and industries from Lagos and must not be allowed to be displaced in the aviation industry just like the banking industry. At one time in history, all airlines operating in Nigeria were owned by Northerners.
