A subtlely shocking story has been told of how the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria spent over N5 billion to maintain two Bell 206 training helicopters in 12 years and then sold the choppers at N553.8 million.
Since last year, controversy brewed over the missing two Bell 206 helicopters acquired by the Federal Government for NCAT for training of students following rumours that the aircraft were missing.
However, in an interview with Businessday, which was published on Sunday, NCAT’s Rector, Alkali Modibbo clarified that the choppers were not missing but had been sold at $1.2 million because they were unsuitable for training of students.
According to him, the Aviation college spent at least, N500 million annually to maintain its unused two Bell 206 helicopters before eventually succeeding in auctioning them at a total sum of $600,000.
Checks by The Economy revealed that the Naira officially exchanged at N461/$1 in 2022 when the helicopters were sold. The $1.2 million for which the two choppers were sold, therefore transalated to N553.8 million, after spending over N5 billion to maintain them for about 12 years in spite of the aircraft not being redundant.
Modibbo said: “The process started in 2019, we filed all the papers and requested for approval and evaluation from the ministry. The ministry wanted us to sell it by the bluebook rating, which is the new helicopter prices, but we cannot sell old helicopters using the bluebook pricing. So, we had to request the ministry to look into that issue and we told them that the aircraft have been with us for more than 10 years, redundant in the hangar. Yet, we maintain the helicopters annually to the tune of N500 million to sit in the hangar. So, after five years, we have spent about N5 billion in maintaining the two helicopters, yet we don’t use it for training or to source any revenue from it. It is a waste for the college because the helicopters must be serviceable all the time. For the 12 to 13 years period, none of the two helicopters reached 40 hours flying time.
Alkali Modibo, Rector, NCAT
“We talked to the ministry and the minister agreed and approved the sales of the helicopters and we followed the due process. We wrote to the Ministry, requesting to the Ministry of Works to get valuers to evaluate the helicopters, which was done. The Ministry of Works sent this to approved Federal Government auctioneers who came over and the helicopters were auctioned and at the end of the day, the helicopters were sold to two different companies. The helicopters were sold at about $600,000 each.”
According to the NCAT rector, the helicopters have jet engines and with jet engines, it is so expensive that an hour training would take the students their entire Private Pilot Licensing (PPL) on the piston engine airplanes. Helicopters with piston engine are recommended for training.
Modibbo was of the opinion that the Federal Government did not involve the college authorities in the process of acquiring the Bell 206 choppers.
“So, the Ministry of Aviation decided to sell the helicopters and replace them with piston engine helicopters. The only way you can sell it and get your money back is by auction, which is the approved process for selling government properties,” he said.
However, over one year after selling the aircraft, the appropriate helicopters have not been bought for training students at NCAT.
The rector explained, “The process of getting new airplanes is not a switch you put off and on. You need to start writing to various government agencies. The Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development will write to the Ministry of Finance for approval and processes, which will take a while before you are able to buy the piston engine airplanes.
“That money could have fetched us two Robinson R44 and two R22 helicopters, but I am sure the Federal Government will want to approve probably one R44 and one R22 because of the issue we are having with foreign exchange. R44 is a larger fashion of R22; the R44 has four seats and the R22 has two seats for training….We have never trained anybody on helicopters at the college.”
