A 19-year-old high school dropout from Cameroon, Vidiol Tsague, has made passenger planes and drones built using local materials that can fly for minutes. Vidiol Tsague has been working on designing and putting together his innovations for the past eight years. He used local materials like cardboard, cartoons, wires, etc. Three years ago, due to the ongoing Anglophone crisis in Northwestern Cameroon, Vidiol dropped out of school. Innovation has been his newfound passion.

The aircraft, which physically resembles a genuine passenger carrier, is flown by a battery and is controlled by a remote control that was produced in the area. It’s around 3.5 kilos in weight and roughly two meters long. Light local materials were used in its production.

Tsague added that he had spent around eight years developing the aeroplane prototype. He said that his aim is to study engineering so that he would be able to create a real aircraft that can travel great distances with people inside, but he hates that his impoverished parents cannot support him through college.

“The remote control that I use is not able to fully control the plane when it’s many feet in the air. The battery that I have is also not good. Sometimes, it gets weak when the plane is in the air, and it automatically goes on a free fall…,” Vidiol told German broadcaster, DW

He can be seen flying drones and aircraft that are around 2 meters long through the streets in the majority of the videos that he uploads to his TikTok account. He controls the plane using a remote control, causing it to fly a short distance before coming back for a secure landing. Some of his videos have received millions of views since they became viral.

Vidiol, who had to leave secondary school three years prior due to fighting between two parts of the nation, said he wants to study engineering and learn how to build actual aircraft that people can board to go great distances.

Following his recent meetings with some top officials in Cameroon, Cameroonians have been expressing the desire, on different social media platforms, to see such a talented young man fully supported and encouraged.

“I wish they (government officials) can encourage and give him the support he needs, right to the end. There are a lot of young people like him in Cameroon but what they lack is the necessary encouragement. Well done, Videol,” said Ekalle Nkwelle on Facebook in reaction to a photo showing the young teenager and the Foreign Ministry official on 12 August.

“Great invention. He deserves a scholarship to go study abroad so he can come back and do great things for Cameroon. Otherwise, the government should send him to the National Advanced School of Engineering, follow him up and give him the means, and he will build aircraft for us,” another Facebook user reacted.