NAF Women of War
NAF Women of War
NAF Commissions Commando Village.
As part of efforts geared towards improving the operational
skills of Regiment personnel in the fight against insurgency and
other forms of criminality across the country, the Nigerian Air
Force (NAF) on 30 January 2019, commissioned a Commando Village at
NAF Base Bauchi.
The Commando Village, which is designed as a typical rural area
scenario, would be used by the NAF Regiment personnel for training
and simulation exercises.
Speaking during the commissioning, the Chief of the Air Staff
(CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, stated that the NAF’s desire
to have a professional force that is capable of not only projecting
Air Power but also protecting its assets and bases led to the drive
to rapidly develop NAF force protection capability. This, he said,
necessitated the establishment of the Special Operations Command
(SOC), along with its component Quick Response Groups and Wings, as
well as the rapid capacity building of NAF Regiment and Special
Forces (SF) within the last three and half years.
This, the CAS emphasized, was done to strengthen the NAF’s Base
Defence architecture whilst also providing well trained personnel
for the conduct of Internal Security (IS) duties in aid to Civil
Authority. He said, as a result, the NAF had deployed over 600 SF
personnel to various Theatres of Operation, with 300 SF personnel
deployed to Benue State under Operation WHIRL STROKE and another
300 deployed to Zamfara State under Operation SHARAN DAJI. He said
these were to ensure the security of the lives and properties of
Nigerians to enable them go about their legitimate aspirations
without fear. Air Marshal Abubakar reiterated that security and
development were 2 sides of the same coin. “There can be no
development without security – they go hand in glove”, he said. He
further affirmed that the NAF would continue to collaborate with
other security agencies to maintain peace and security of the
Nation. The CAS also disclosed that, apart from the new Commando
Village and the already existing one in Kaduna, 2 more mock
Villages would be built; one at Ipetu Ijesa in Osun State and
another in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
While appreciating the resolute support of the
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President
Muhammadu Buhari, the CAS promised to sustain the efforts towards
enhancing nation building. He also expressed delight with the
performance of the NAF Regiment and SF personnel and lauded their
achievements in the various Theatres of Operation. The CAS equally
congratulated the Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice
Marshal (AVM) Oladayo Amao, and the Director of Regiment
Headquarters NAF, Air Commodore Patrick Phillips, for
conceptualizing and implementing the capacity building programme
which had yielded such commendable results. Air Marshal Abubakar
said efforts would be sustained to improve the infrastructure
around the mock village to enable the training of a larger number
of personnel per time. He charged the Regiment personnel to make
best use of the village to further develop their skills while
ensuring proper maintenance of the facilities.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Commander 251 Base Services
Group, Air Commodore Nazif Aliyu, thanked the CAS for his
relentless efforts at providing the necessary infrastructure to
enable NAF Base Bauchi fulfill its assigned tasks. He noted that
the Commando Village, which was the first of its kind in the
Northeast, would assist in enhancing the skills and capacity of NAF
Regiment personnel. Also present at the ceremony were the Air
Officer Commanding SOC, AVM Napoleon Bali, along with other senior
military officers and heads of security agencies in Bauchi. The
highlight of the occasion was the hostage rescue Close Quarter
Battle (CQB) simulation exercise conducted by the Regiment
personnel to the delight of guests.
IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force