Tuesday marked another milestone for the Nigerian aviation industry as not only did Emirates Airline land at MMIA Lagos Murtala Mohammed International Airport for the first time in two years, but the plane was piloted by Nigerian-born pilot Mohammed Madugu. It was a historic day.
Madugu happily posted a video of her landing at MMIA on her X page on Tuesday with the following caption: Today, I landed from an RNAV approach as ILS was being tested. Watch this video to see how much effort Emirates’ training department puts into its pilots. Alhamdulillah. ”
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He added that it was an honor to operate the first repatriation flight to Lagos.
“Today is a very special day for me. I am honored to operate the first repatriation flight to Lagos, Nigeria 🇳🇬 @LOSairport. Today I will hold high the flag of Emirates and Nigeria 🇦🇪 🇳 🇬 !Thank you Emirates Airlines Just over 8 hours of flight time today #EkoOniBaje,” he wrote.
Madugu joined Azman Air in 2016 as the youngest captain in the Nigerian aviation industry at the time.
Born on September 21, 1996, Madugu is an indigene of Kano and the son of Alhaji Sani Madugu.
In a conversation with Daily Trust in 2016, he said that when he was 6 or 7 years old, he had a chance to see the cockpit of an airplane, which sparked his passion for airplanes.
“It all started a long time ago. When I was six or seven years old, we were flying to Kano to go to Salah as usual. We arrived in Kano and my father pulled me into the cockpit of the plane. I think he knew the pilot or something, but that’s all I remember when I saw the cockpit. I was really shocked.
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Emirates had been operating flights to Lagos and Abuja until September 30, 2022, but the airline suspended its flights due to an inability to repatriate backlogged funds amounting to more than $80 million at the time.
And in what appeared to be a symbolic gesture, a Nigerian dressed as Captain Mohammed Madugu was in the cockpit along with other crew members.
