Members of the House of Representatives has guaranteed the safe retrieval of Two Bell helicopters that were sold to private people but belonged to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology in Zaria, Bell 206L4 BZB and Bell M2061-L4.
During the Thursday investigative hearing on the sale of the two helicopters in Abuja, Ademorin Kuye, the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets, made this statement.
Kuye voiced his worries about the two helicopters being sold to private buyers when the college was left without an aircraft for instruction.
Security organizations like the Nigerian Air Force, Navy, and Police expressed interest in buying the helicopters, therefore the committee also questioned the procedures that led to their sale.
The NCAT’s management, however, declined the security agencies.
The three security organizations visited the college and expressed interest in buying the helicopters in writing, but were not given the chance to do so, according to different submissions.
Even though he was the college’s deputy rector when the helicopters were sold, Mr. Shaka Imalighwe, the acting rector of NCAT, maintained he was not a member of the group or committee that made the sales possible.
Imalighwe said that in January 2024, he assumed interim control of the college’s operations.
The committee stated that they had initially asked NCAT to produce specific records about the procedure that resulted in the helicopters being sold in May 2023, but they had been unable to do so.
He claimed that this had to do with the Ministry of Aviation’s and the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) permission as well as a newspaper article announcing the plan to sell the helicopters.
Imalighwe informed the committee that at the time of sale, the helicopters were being maintained and used by authorized aviation organizations.
The college’s acting rector also informed lawmakers that there was not a single helicopter available for training at the time.
The legislators contended that NCAT erred in selling the helicopters by using an unregistered auctioneer.
The current and immediate former minister of aviation was ordered to appear before the committee during the next investigative session.
