Made-in-Nigeria helicopter to fly soon, says NASENI

Officials of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) have said the country will soon fly the nation’s aircraft, as engineering work on the first made-in-Nigeria helicopter is nearing completion.
  
The agency added that the helicopter would be a wholly made-in-Nigeria chopper.  The Project Manager of NASENI’s Aeronautics and Air Vehicle Development Institute, Kaduna, Kareem Aduagba, disclosed this during a Focus Group Engagement in Kaduna, organised by NASENI in Kaduna, yesterday.
  
The Focus Group Engagement, which had in attendance inventors and manufacturers drawn from the academia and private sectors in Kaduna, was organised by NASENI to promote local manufacturing, innovation and the adoption of made-in-Nigeria products.
  
The forum brought together government officials, industry leaders and innovators to discuss policies that will drive Nigeria’s industrial and technological growth.

Aduagba said: “What we are doing now is not to reinvent the wheel. We had one of our projects being started from the first principle which we are working on, both the made-in-Nigeria helicopter and some Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).”
  
Also speaking at the event, the Head of the Manufacturing Services Department at the Hydraulic Equipment Development Institute, Kano (under NASENI), Abdulfatai Ambali, emphasised the agency’s role in national development, highlighting NASENI’s renewed focus on commercialisation, collaboration and creation under its current leadership.