President
Muhammadu Buhari’s launch of surveillance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV,
produced locally by the Nigerian Air Force Institute of Technology is already
generating controversy over the claim that it is the first indigenous UAV,
whereas former president, Goodluck Jonathan was said to have launched the same
invention in December, 2013.
Buhari, had
while inducting the unmanned aerial vehicle christened TSAIGUMI, in Kaduna, on
Thursday, said, “It is a pleasure to be here with you all for the induction of
the Nigerian Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, ‘TSAIGUMI’, Nigeria’s first
indigenously developed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. The significance of this
accomplishment as a milestone of national technological development cannot be
over-estimated”.
Since the
news broke, there have been speculations that TSAIGUMI is the same UAV which
the then president Jonathan commissioned in 2013.
DAILY POST
had on December 18, 2013 reported that Jonathan in Kaduna unveiled the first
Nigerian made unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV, named GULMA which was built by the
Nigerian Air Force in Kaduna.
In his
speech at the unveiling ceremony, Jonathan said at the time that as Nigeria
continues to witness breakthrough in technology at various sectors, it was
imperative to appreciate the fact that Nigeria has potential to do great
things, charging Nigerians to continue to explore all available areas that
could take the country to greatness.
The PDP in
its reaction described the commissioning as a shameful act as its National
Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan wrote
on Twitter, “It’s a shame that same project former President GEJ commissioned
in Dec 17th 2013 is the same project (first unmanned drone ) that Buhari is
recommissioning and the @APCNigeria apologists are celebrating this Shameful
act.”
Clarifying
the issue under contention regarding the drone, the spokesman of the Nigerian
Air Force, NAF, AVM Olatokunbo Adesanya told DAILY POST on Friday that the UAV
commissioned yesterday by Buhari is the first indigenous operational drone.
According to
him, “The other one was not operational. It was a prototype. It was not
prepared to conduct any operation. This one built on the earlier one and it is
a much more improved version. This is a much more improved version of the other
one. This one has mixed characteristics… with so many other things.”
Source: http://www.nairaland.com/4351852/buhari-commissions-air-force-drone
0 Comments