Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada was born on August 26 1950. He holds a Nigerian Airline Transport Pilot License, a British Airline Transport Pilot License, a Bachelor of Science in Business Admin and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in view from the University of Abuja.

BACKGROUND
Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada is a native of Dekina in Kogi State and from a humble family. He is Igala by tribe. His father is the elder statesman, Pa Wada Haleel Ejiga, a Judge of the Upper Area Court who retired in 1989. Pa Wada is a household name among his folks with an uncanny disposition for strict discipline. His mother Hajiya Rekiya Wada Ejiga of blessed memory is from Ogodu in Aknpa LGA of Kogi state. Capt Wada attended N.A. Primary School (1958-1963) and Government Secondary School both in Dekina between 1964 and 1968. He went for his Higher School Certificate Course at Federal Government College, Sokoto. He finished at Government Secondary School, Dekina, as, one of the best students with division one.

Capt Wada’s academic brilliance and strict religious upbringing saw him excel at FGC, Sokoto, where he consistently emerged top of his class in all of two years, excelling in both sciences and non-science subjects. After the Mock HSC Exams, he proceeded to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre (Now Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT). He graduated with a Commercial Pilot and Instruments Certificate. Then, he went to British Air University, Air Services Training in Perth Scotland for Flight Instructor Training Certificate. From there he proceeded to Burnside – Ott Aviation College in Miami, Florida, USA for the USA Flight Instructor Training. He returned to Zaria and worked as a Flight Instructor.

Capt Idris Wada is the ‘golden child’ of Nigerian aviation circles as a professional pilot and airline operator. As a detribalized business person, he is generous to a fault, many persons as well as religious groups and cultural institutions. Apart from providing employment to young graduates from different backgrounds, he minimizes the level of crime in society by engaging youths who are school leavers as construction site workers amongst others.

Capt. Wada, who became a first class flying instructor at the age of 23 and credited with training one of the best set of Pilots ever produced in Nigeria at NCAT has, for decades, distinguished himself both in the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy. He is a humble, trustworthy, detribalized and forward looking Nigerian. Capt Wada joined the then national carrier, Nigerian Airways as a line pilot where he attained the summit of a pilot’s career by being crowned “Captain in Command” at the tender age of 29. In 1984, he joined United Air Services (UAS) where he rose to the position of GM and Chief Pilot within a very short period. His brief stay at UAS was followed by the actualization of his dream of becoming one of the pioneer indigenous airline operators in Nigeria when he founded Executive Airline Service (EAS) in 1986, together with some prominent Kogi sons, some of whom trained in NCAT, Zaria.
 Time is of God and possibly the destined time.

Capt. Wada though from a humble background and of little means and no capital started a capital intensive venture. He successfully managed it and expanded it beyond Nigerian shores due to his unlimited knowledge of how to deal successfully with government regulations. He was a pioneer in the airline industry and knew how the government system works. Airline business is a capital intensive highly regulated industry and involves a lot of government bureaucracies. Capt Wada dealt with all these without any external support. He set the pace that brought the likes of ADC, Bellview, Arik, Triax, etc into the indigenous Aviation business.

Capt. Wada is a member of several inter-governmental bodies –including member and Chairman of several Nigerian Government’s Aviation Policy Development and Review Committees in 1988/1999. He was appointed Chairman, Ministerial Committee on Airline Operations in 2006. In the same year, owing to the profundity of his performance, he was also appointed Chairman, NCAA implementation Committee on Airlines Operations for ICAO Audit. Between 2000 and 2007, he was Vice Chairman Airline Operators of Nigeria for many years. Capt Wada has been Chairman, Governing Council of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Potiskum, Yobe State since 2008 to 12th September 2011when he voluntarily resigned to contest for the Kogi State Gubernatorial election. As a Pilot Instructor of repute, he has presented several lectures at Aviation Seminars/Workshops both within and outside Nigeria over the last 25 years. The profundity of his lectures has enthused many in the past.

Bloom Years

It was providence that brought Capt Wada into airline business. In HSC, he was reading Physics, Chemistry and Biology. He was heading to become a Medical Doctor. It was actually what his parents wanted him to do and, somehow, he liked it because he had feelings for human beings. Towards the end of his HSC, he went to Zaria on holidays and stayed with a cousin. As an idle student, you know, one goes about visiting people in their offices and, one day, he went to see someone in Civil Aviation Training Centre and saw a small airplane flying. Something stirred inside him and he was greatly astonished. He thought earlier that only the children of rich people or white men fly planes. That day, he discovered how wrong he was because he saw young black ordinary people like him flying the aero planes. Later, he made inquiries on how to get admission into the centre. When he returned to school, he took some career guidance, and counseling with the tacit support of his principal, Mr. Harwood, who told him it was a new field he could explore. A desire to become a pilot was ignited in him. Later, his Mum told him that when he was very young, if any airplane flew overhead, he would say he was the one inside the aero plane up there. She told him aero planes flying in the sky fascinated him a lot when he was young. Destiny ensured that he became a seasoned Pilot in the end.

He is a member of,Ikoyi Club 1938 –Lagos,Ikeja Golf Club, Ikeja –Lagos,IBB International Golf & Country Club –Abuja.His hobbies includes Golf, Tennis, Music and Reading. Capt Wada is married with children .