By A Kogi family credits former governor Yahaya Bello with rescuing their daughter’s dream of flying. Enejoh Faith and her father called on Bello at his Abuja home on Monday night, more than a year after he stepped in to cover the roughly N30 million cost of her aviation training, an intervention that had kept her programme from stalling out over unpaid fees.
Per a Tuesday statement from Bello’s spokesperson Onogwu Muhammed, the two families’ paths first crossed on July 17, 2025. Faith had already been admitted into an aviation training programme but hit a wall when the money to finish registering ran out. Her father brought her admission letter to Bello’s residence and laid out their situation; Bello agreed on the spot to cover it; and, expecting she might hit more costs down the line, he handed over more than the full N30 million asked for. None of it was announced at the time, the statement notes, with no press event built around the gesture.
That patience paid off, as Faith has now finished her training and posted an 89% score on her public pilot licence exam, a result her father shared proudly during Monday’s visit while Faith stood by in her aviation uniform. What stayed with him most, he said, was that the help came from someone with no prior connection to his family at all. He described the toll the uncertainty had taken on him physically before Bello agreed to help, and the relief once the deal was struck, alongside his gratitude for a debt he says he can never fully repay.
Muhammed situated the gesture within a broader pattern of quiet giving: Bello has reportedly backed at least four people through pilot training and funded others’ university studies both locally and abroad through similar private arrangements. Monday’s visit, he clarified, carried no request attached; the family had come to report back and express thanks.
