The use of drones (also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in Nigeria, has increased in recent time, as some innovative business outfits and organizations have began to utilise the technology for their operations.

Drones make things cheaper – remote sensing/mapping in Geology, could have helped us map the spread of Tuta Absoluta more efficiently.

— Onye Nkuzi (@cchukudebelu) May 22, 2016

However, a spanner was recently thrown in the wheel of drone lovers as the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) rolled out some guidelines that make flying of drones in Nigeria nearly impossible.

The new guidelines weren’t received favorably.

I'll fly my camera drone following safety guidelines ONLY. Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) can f**k their hairy a** for all I care.

— GoodChild™ (@rockypalm) May 23, 2016

Don't worry about NCAA and their drone rules, they are as Incompetent as they come. Keep flying ur drones Biko

— Segun (@_segz) May 22, 2016

A statement by the NCAA spokesperson, Sam Adurogboye, reads:

“In recent times, RPA/UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are being deployed for commercial and recreational purposes in the country without adequate security clearance. Therefore with the preponderance of these operations particularly in a non – segregated airspace, there has to be proactive safety guidelines.

But then the NCAA goes on to say:

“The development of the use of RPA nationwide has emerged with somewhat predictable safety concerns and security threats

“Therefore, no government agency, organization or an individual will launch an RPA/UAV in the Nigerian airspace for any purpose whatsoever without obtaining requisite permit from the NCAA and ONSA.”

So to fly a drone within Nigeria, you must get a permit from the NCAA and NSA -and it doesn’t even matter if you bought the toy on an eCommerce site while sitting in your living room, you must go through this troubles to obtain a permit.

But to obtain the permit, the following must be done

https://twitter.com/kazey/status/734289612827463680

The NCAA directs that a non-refundable N500,000 should be paid for a license to operate a drone. The license is valid for three years with a yearly utilization fee of N100,000.

Many disagree with the NCAA.

I'd plead with recreational/movie maker, drone users to make a presentation to the NCAA

This regulation looks more of ignorance to me

— Tunji Andrews (@TunjiAndrews) May 22, 2016

Last RT; technically NCAA is about to choke our drone work on data gathering in vulnerable communities. pic.twitter.com/71FERVTM1g

— Niyi. (@xniyi) May 22, 2016

₦500k permit to fly a $150 drone! We need to bottle #commonsense from the Bayelsa senator and start selling to NCAA https://t.co/nb3WKSqrjC

— Akínṣọlá (@olumakin) May 22, 2016

But some others agree with the NCAA directive.

NCAA can't just let anyone with access to a drone flyover the airspace anyhow. The potential risk is huge. https://t.co/2EGH5YGe0M

— Kayode Ogundamisi (@ogundamisi) May 22, 2016

https://twitter.com/yalzy/status/734326661915770880

But some are asking: what if …

quick question…

if I decide to disregard these rules and fly my drone.. what will NCAA do? shoot it down? use a fighter drone to capture?

— Ized… (@zegbua) May 22, 2016

Perhaps, the NCAA is setting the process of obtaining a drone permit too high as a way of discouraging drone use within Nigeria.