Tech
Teenagers flying drones to find the next blocked drain
After a 2025 flood in Mokwa that he says claimed over 250 lives, Yisa Nathaniel co-founded Drone Rangers Nigeria to train young people as drone pilots who spot blocked drainages and crop stress early.
In 2025 a flood hit Mokwa, in Niger state, where Yisa Nathaniel lives. It claimed over 250 lives, he says, and property was washed away in front of them. "We have seen our people die," he says.
Drone Rangers Nigeria came out of that. He founded it with Salisu Ruwaidah as a youth led initiative that trains young teenagers to solve problems with technology. The students learn to be drone pilots. With the drones they detect blocked drainages and areas where waste has built up, and they help farmers by picking up crop stress, pests and other threats early.
“Change is the most inevitable factor in life we can't survive without change,if we wish for our children to live then we must strive for change”
Yisa Nathaniel
He is a student at MESL Staff Secondary School, Kainji.
The reason for starting with teenagers is plain to him. "Young people are often left out when it comes to solving problems in their communities," he says. Drone Rangers Nigeria is his answer to that, "putting technology in the hands of youth to make real change".
He plans for a pioneer cohort of 20 students, and hopes to take on more.