Teslimat Abiola Nurudeen, a 500-level student in the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at Kwara State University, made history by being the first undergraduate from the school to fly alone at the Ilorin International Airport.
The Nation writes that the momentous occasion happened on April 20, 2026, when the young pilot flew an airplane alone for 24 minutes around the airfield after months of hard training that included ground school, simulator sessions, and supervised flights.
Before this, Teslimat had her six-month SIWES program at International Aviation College in Ilorin, where she improved her abilities even more.
When she came to see him in his office, Vice Chancellor Professor Shaykh-Luqman Jimoh called the feat “exceptional” and congratulated Teslimat for balancing her studies with intense pilot training.
He also said that her accomplishment would encourage more students, especially young women, to become pilots and engineers.
The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Abdulraheem Toyin Abdulbaqi, and the Head of the Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering Department, Dr. Taofiq Omoniyi Amoloye, also praised the student and said that the achievement was a record-breaking milestone for the university.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Moshood Mahmud Jimba, the University Bursar, Mallam Muhammad Abubakar, and the student’s father and Deputy Director of Work, Engineer Idris Nurudeen, were all there.
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki congratulated her and said, “The news that Teslimat Abiola Nurudeen, a final-year student at Kwara State University @KwasuOfficial, has become the first undergraduate from the university to complete a solo flight is exactly the kind of harvest we envisioned years ago.”
She flew a 24-minute round at Ilorin International Airport on April 20, 2026.
“Our goal when we set up KWASU and the International Aviation College while I was Governor of Kwara State was to develop human capital.” It was about giving the next generation of Kwarans and Nigerians the skills they need to compete in the most specialized parts of the world economy.
“Seeing a young woman from the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering take to the skies today makes us feel good about the hard but necessary choices we took to put education and specialized infrastructure first.
“The journey ahead must now be about bringing Kwara back to this culture of excellence.” We need to think about more than simply building for today; we need to think about building for the future.
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