Ndudi Anyim
With a view to evolve new strategies in dealing with the avalanche of security challenges in the country, operational unit commanders of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) recently converged in Abuja for a three-day retreat.
The retreat which held between April 27 and 29, had the theme ‘Harnessing NAF Airpower Capabilities for Effectiveness in Joint Operations.’
Security Watch Africa reports that the three-day event, had operational commanders and some retired personnel acting as resource persons in attendance.
The participants critically scrutinized current efforts by NAF as well as proffered new strategies towards improving the current security challenges in the country.
Key areas of deliberation centred on operational, logistics as well as engineering efforts by relevant units towards enhancing operational effectiveness of the NAF.
In his opening address, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, reiterated that the retreat was aimed at appraising NAF’s current state of effectiveness and efficiency towards contributing to the enhancement of national security as well as in dealing with current and emerging security challenges facing the Nation.
While noting that the Service faced several militating challenges, he said the onus lies on the NAF to work through those challenges and evolve the best operational strategies to achieve the desired results.
“The NAF must look for areas of synergy with sister Services and other security agencies, whilst leveraging each other’s capabilities to secure the nation,” he stated.
Speaking further, the CAS reminded commanders of their responsibilities to the nation as a fighting force, saying that a huge burden of responsibility has been placed on the Armed Forces of Nigeria and the NAF in particular, by the Nigerian people to secure and ensure their security and safety.
According to him, “We cannot afford to let them down. We must therefore use this period of introspection to evolve strategies to improve our operations as well as enhance our logistics support systems and maintenance practices to ensure the serviceability of our air assets for optimal employment of airpower capabilities in joint operations.
“The retreat no doubt provided an avenue for the NAF to critically analyse its activities, achievements and challenges in order to enhance the capacity of commanders and potential commanders in the NAF.”
At the retreat, four new fighter and combat pilots were also winged by the CAS. The winging ceremony and the retreat were attended by several serving and retired NAF personnel pooled from across the nation.