Chief of Air Staff pledges support for establishment of national R&D Foundation

THE Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Oladayo Amao, has promised the support of the Nigerian Air force towards the establishment of a National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF), being canvassed by the Research and Development Standing Committee (RDSC) of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

He spoke in Abuja when members of the Defence and Security subcommittee of RDSC paid him a courtesy visit at the Air Force headquarters.

Air Marshal Amao, who commended the Fund for its sincerity in the disbursement of the Research and Development (R&D) funds, lauded TETFund for its transformation efforts in various public tertiary educational institutions in the country, both in infrastructure and funding of Research and Development (R&D).

Speaking on the importance of research funding ,particularly in defence and security, the Air Chief explained that as a result of some difficulties sometimes encountered in procuring military platforms and their spare parts from other countries, the Nigerian Air Force had to look inward to improve on the serviceability of its equipment and see how it could also produce some of its own platforms through R&D.

Executive secretary of TETFund, Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, who led the delegation on the visit, expressed his appreciation to the Chief of Air Staff for meeting with the subcommittee.

He gave a brief insight into the history of TETFund and the Fund’s current drive at promoting the content component of its intervention, particularly research and development.

The drive, he said, culminated in the inauguration of the RDSC by the minister of education in 2020, to lay the foundation for Nigeria’s knowledge economy to be competitive.

The executive secretary commended the Nigerian Air Force for its efforts in the fight against insurgency in the country, even while emphasising the need to deploy the most precise technology.

“Nigerian Air Force has been doing a great job. The fight against insurgency, and if it were anything to protect our territorial integrity, requires the most precise technology. We cannot fail to recognise this.

“I know that the Nigerian Air Force has demonstrated its capabilities. All of us at TETFund; and on behalf of RDSC and the defence and security subcommittee, are proud of what you are doing for our nation. You have laid down your lives for us and history will judge you fairly,” he said.

Also speaking at the meeting, the coordinator of the defence and security subcommittee of RDSC, AVM Jomo Onyemaechi Osahor (retd), stated that the purpose of the visit was to brief the Chief of Air Staff on the role of the subcommittee and seek ‘strategic guidance’ from him.

He noted that the paradigm shift being promoted by TETFund is “to institutionalise Research and Development in order to project Nigeria into a knowledge-based economy, through need-based, well-articulated and well-funded R&D.”

According to him, “the role of the Defence and Security subcommittee is to harness the intellectual resources among the academia and the capabilities in our industries in line with the needs of the Armed Forces in order to enhance national security.”

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