Nahco aviance has endowed a professorial chair in Aviation Economics at the Bayero University, Kano.
Speaking at the event in Kano, the chairman of the company, Alhaji Suleman Yahyah pointed out that Kano deserved such honour being the first city to receive an aircraft in Nigeria as far back as 1930s.
He further said that Kano was chosen for “it is one of the centres of excellence in Nigeria” adding that “Kano has to its credit, several hundreds of years of history of commerce, dating back to the trans-Sahara trade.”
“The Mallam Aminu Kano Airport was the first airport established in West Africa in the 1930s and our core business in nacho aviance is aviation handling. So when we decided as a company to realign our corporate social responsibility from mere donations, and interventions and support to longer-term sustainable support, we felt that BUK having sustained a tradition of academic excellence and has bred several champions who are today in positions of leadership in various sectors of Nigeria economy, this should be one of our first port of call,” Yahyah added.
In his response, the vice chancellor of the institution, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said that the money coming with the research would go a long way in creating an impact in transport economy in such a way that after five years of the duration of the present endowment, the department would have acquired enough competence by training some candidates including doctorate students in the area of transport economy or holding annual conference in transport economy and publishing the proceedings of the conference and circulating them widely.
He further said the endowment of the professorial chair by the leading ground aviation handling company in the West African sub-region would go a long way in sensitizing the general academic community about the field of transport economy.
On her part, the new chair, Prof. Ummu Ahmed Jalingo said the new endowment “is a way of moving the society forward.”
She expressed appreciation to ground handling firm for choosing her department for the endowment saying it “marks a giant stride in the search for advance knowledge in a core area of human endeavor.”
Ahmed-Jalingo commended the company for setting a great example and promised that she would not let the it (company) down as she was sure that the whole country stands to benefit from the investment which “nacho aviance is making by endowing the professorial chair.”
