Insecurity: Newly inducted aircraft to add value to ongoing fight against terror ― Air chief

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has said the new aircraft inducted by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday will add value to the ongoing fight against terrorism.

Abubakar stated this during the commissioning of some projects and inspection of ongoing ones at NAF Base Kaduna on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that projects inaugurated included, accommodation block, 10 officers transit accommodation and water storage facility.

The Air Chief also inspected work on ongoing water treatment plant, classroom blocks, five hundred sitting capacity blocks, regiment training centre, students dining hall among others.

Abubakar explained that the force would use its air assets to complement ongoing fight against terrorists to ensure the security of the country.

He pointed out that out of the 22 inducted aircraft, 10 were in Kaduna, while 32 student pilots were currently undergoing training to boost NAF operations with a view to repositioning the force into a highly professional service.

The air chief disclosed that they had worked hard to ensure that a number of grounded aircraft were back into flying status, stressing that the force was expecting to acquire additional aircraft including 12 Tucano from the United States.

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He noted that apart from having the right structure and platforms to restructure the force into a professional service, the force had provided adequate training to personnel and enhanced their welfare for effective performance.

“The regiment training centre has become a centre of excellence because acquiring aircraft without a force protection capability might not translate into much, and that is why we have given regiment training topmost priority.

“I am very excited that we have made substantial progress in terms of training regiment personnel into force protection elements and special forces,” he said.

Abubakar said that special forces had been deployed to some parts of the country to ensure security, adding that 250 are in Zamfara and about 300 in Benue.

Earlier, Air Officer Commanding Ground Training Command, AVM Idi Amin, said the current leadership of the force had ensured conducive atmosphere for the training and welfare of personnel of the force.

He assured that the personnel would rededicate themselves to duty to justify their mandate toward meeting up with current demands of security challenges. (NAN)