In a bid to further enhance its capacity to tackle contemporary challenges, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has charged the Nigerian Air Force to expand its collaborations with the academia, think-tanks and further earn the confidence of the nation and the respect of the international community.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Laolu Akande, said this is in addition to what the Force is already doing leveraging internal capacity to innovate and deploy emerging technologies for its operations.
Prof. Osinbajo stated this while speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the Ceremonial Parade and Induction Ceremony organised as part of activities marking the 59th Anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force in Enugu over the weekend.
"I am aware, from discussions with the Chief of Air Staff that collaborations with our universities and research institutes are growing. There is a great amount of potential waiting to be unleashed from these partnerships.
"I, therefore, charge you to continue to work to earn the confidence of the nation and the respect of the international community, as you protect lives and property, neutralizing all existing and emerging national security threats.
"I would like to urge greater cooperation and mutual trust between the various arms of the Armed Forces, even while maintaining the healthy spirit of competition that underpins innovation and increased efficiency," the VP added.
Continuing, he said, "of course, this must be situated within the general context of a greater emphasis on local capacity-building by the Nigerian Armed Forces, with developments like the establishment of a Nigerian Army University and the revitalization of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) serving as testaments to this renewed emphasis."
Commending the management team of the Air Force for its recent accomplishments, Prof. Osinbajo praised the farsightedness of the Chief of Air Staff which "was instrumental to the renewed focus and self-reliance in the Nigerian Air Force."
According to him "we are seeing an Air Force that is increasingly confident about its ability and capacity to innovate and to deploy locally developed technology.
"This is manifesting in various ways, from the locally-developed operational Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, TSAIGUMI, which the President formally inducted into service in February 2018, to the collaborative work being done at the Air Force Research and Development Centre in Kaduna to produce the first-ever made-in-Nigeria aircraft."
Speaking further about boosting the operational capacity of NAF and other Forces, the VP noted that "it is an irreducible minimum and should always be the main responsibility of all legitimate governments."
According to him, "the resolve of our Armed Forces and the invaluable contributions of other security agencies in fully containing the security challenges in some parts of the nation are noted and commended.
"The contributions of the Nigerian Air Force in addressing the security challenges of armed banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping in the North West and North Central, in conjunction with other security agencies, have equally started to yield positive results."
Prof. Osinbajo then highlighted the Federal Government’s commitment to prioritising professionalism in the military since the assumption of the Buhari administration in 2015.
His words: "As a country, we are particularly proud that in less than 4 years, we were able to revitalize our Armed Forces. In keeping with his promise that as Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, he would prioritize the restoration of professionalism in the military to enable them effectively discharge their responsibilities, President Buhari ensured that substantial investments were made in acquiring new platforms and other support equipment for the military and other security agencies, as well as reactivating and upgrading existing platforms."
Continuing, he said, "in the last four years, the administration acquired new air platforms for the Nigerian Air Force such as the JF-17 Thunder Multirole Fighter Aircraft, the A-29 Super Tucano aircraft, DA-62 aircraft, T-129 Attack Helicopter, Beechcraft aircraft and unmanned aerial systems. The Air Force has also reactivated several aircrafts.
"It is also worthy of note that the procurement process for military hardware has been reviewed, to remove inefficiency. For example, the procurement process for the purchase of the 12 Super Tucano aircraft in 2018, was done through a transparent, first-of-its-kind Government-to-Government deal with the United States of America.
"It is evident that the huge investments in the capacity development of the Nigerian Air Force have helped to turn the tide against terrorists and other violent non-state actors in our nation."
