As Black history month rolls in, Glazia is excited to join the celebration to spotlight, honor and celebrate people from the motherland who are making the nation proud by making global impact all around the globe. As CNN host; Fareed Zakaria described last year described during one of his shows – “Nigerians are the most educated and hardworking immigrants in the US and have added over $26 billion dollars to the US economy.” according to statistics provided by certain studies cited by him.
In honor of Black History Month, we are celebrating Nigerians putting their footprints in the sands of time all around the globe, and today we are celebrating Ademilola “Lola” Odujinrin
Ademilola “Lola” Odujinrin
“Life is too short to dwell on what might have been.”
Ademilola “Lola” Odujinrin is a British-born Nigerian aircraft pilot. In 2017, he became the first African pilot in history to fly solo around the world. Odujinrin works for Air Djibouti. Lola was trained in the UK and US flying for Arik Air for five years before working for Air Djibouti. Since earning his commercial license in 2011 Lola has logged over 4,000 hours as a commercial Boeing 737 pilot.
Lola completed his “One Man, One Plane” expedition on March 29, 2017. He landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, the same airport he departed from in June 2016.In completing his journey, he became the first African and the ninth British pilot to fly around the world solo.
Lola is one of only 117 people in the world to have achieved this, more people have currently flown into space than have flown around the world solo. The flight was part of Project Transcend, a foundation which aims to inspire young people in order to achieve their goals regardless of their personal circumstances.
He flew for nine months, stopping in more than 15 countries on five continents. The flight was completed in a specially configured light single aircraft, Cirrus SR22, which could fly for around four hours before needing to refuel.
The expedition saw Lola fly from Washington to Canada, via John F. Kennedy International Airport, then to Iceland, Scotland, England, Valencia, Malta, Egypt, Djibouti, Oman, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand. From Thailand, it took him 4 weeks to arrive in Darwin, Australia.
He did not make a stop in Africa, reportedly due to a lack of corporate sponsorship in Nigeria. The largest height in which a light single aircraft has flown is 56,000 feet and Lola is currently planning to break this record and reach 60,000 feet.