EXCLUSIVE: NAIJ.com interviews only female NAF aerospace engineer in Tsaigumi UAV production team

- President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, February 15, commissioned an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) built by the Nigerian Air Force

- The Tsaigumi UAV is the first indigenous operational remotely piloted aircraft designed and produced by a team of the NAF aerospace engineers

- Legit.ng had an exclusive interview with Flight Lieutenant Nkemdilim Anulika Ofodile, the only female officer in the team

Flight Lieutenant Nkemdilim Anulika Ofodile is the only female in the team of the Nigerian Air Force aerospace engineers that designed the recently commissioned Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) - Tsaigumi.

The Tsaigumi UAV was produced in collaboration with UAVision of Portugal, and would be used for ISR operations in land and sea domains.

It could also be used for policing operations, disaster management, convoy protection, maritime patrol, pipeline and power line monitoring as well as mapping and border patrol duties.

Although she graduated from Covenant University in 2009 where she read Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Flight Lieutenant Ofodile later went on to get a PhD in Control Engineering from the University of Leicester in England.

READ ALSO: Newly inducted fighter drone will boost security operations - Buhari

She worked on the avionics section of the team given her background in aircraft control engineering.

Narrating to Legit.ng her experience working with the team, Ofodile said she enjoyed working with other engineers on the team, describing them as 'really smart.'

Her words: “I am happy to have worked under such a team of innovative people. We seem to have collaborated really nicely and everything we've done has resulted in the aircraft that was inducted including its ground control station.

“The avionics team have done quite a lot to get the aircraft to where it is, including the structures team - those that designed the body of the aircraft itself.

“I do hope that we do get a chance to get some more people with such caliber of knowledge and experience to work with us in the future to upgrade into the new that will be worked on."

Asked if there is more to come from the team, Ofodile answered in the affirmative, adding that, “I do hope we can get all the resources and help we can get."

She thanked the chief of air staff, Air Marshal Saddique Abubakar, for his commitment in ensuring that personnel welfare is taken seriously under his leadership.

She also advised young ladies in the society to never relent in their quest for excellence, stressing that they should not only work hard, but work smart.

“I do hope that young ladies out there will never take no for an answer and do what is in their heart,” she concluded.

READ ALSO: 7 important things President Buhari said during fighter drone induction

Watch the video interview on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng