Baze University, Abuja, has acquired two training aircraft from Austria for its aviation school in Bwari.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abiodun Adeniyi, says the development shows what vision and long-term investment can achieve.
He congratulated the university’s founder and Chancellor, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmed, on the acquisition. He described it as another sign of a sustained investment philosophy whose benefits could go beyond the investor.
According to Adeniyi, it shows the importance of sticking to a vision through years of uncertainty and making investments that can create long-term economic value.
He traced Baba-Ahmed’s journey from Baze University, set up largely with personal resources and later supported by bank financing. It then grew to include healthcare through Baze Hospital, higher education through Baba-Ahmed University in Kano, and now aviation training.
Nigeria’s aviation industry needs pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, air traffic controllers and other technical professionals. Training institutions that combine classroom instruction with practical facilities could help increase the number of skilled workers available to the sector.
However, aviation training is capital-intensive. It requires heavy spending on aircraft, infrastructure, maintenance, safety systems and regulatory compliance.
Baba-Ahmed has said the university hopes to train at least 600 aviation professionals, subject to regulatory approvals.
Adeniyi argued that investments of this kind could reduce dependence on foreign expertise. They could also give Nigerians the chance to acquire technical skills and take part in productive enterprises.
He said the benefits of entrepreneurship should not be judged only by the wealth investors accumulate, but also by the institutions created, the jobs generated and the national needs addressed.
“Perhaps the lesson is that great enterprises are built not simply with money, but through vision, sacrifice, perseverance and the capacity to transform ambition into productive institutions,” Adeniyi wrote.
He added that when private enterprise responds to national development priorities, it takes on significance beyond commercial success.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
