Air Marshal Abubakar NAF Boss
Air Marshal Abubakar NAF Boss
NAF Trains 175 Special Forces for Internal
Security
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has graduated another batch of
Special Forces (SF) personnel to boost Internal Security (IS)
operations in the country.
The 175 graduating students of SF Course 4/2019 successfully
completed the 10-week rigorous and intensive training in asymmetric
warfare at the Regiment Training Centre (RTC), Kaduna.
Significantly, this is the first time in the history of the NAF
that SF personnel would be trained wholly by NAF Instructors
thereby actualising one of the key drivers of the Chief of the Air
Staff’s Vision of “reinforcing a culture of self-reliance and
prudent management of resources”. Before now, the NAF had engaged
the services of an Israeli Company, the Four Troops Team, to train
NAF SF personnel, aside overseas’ training in various countries
such as Belarus, China and Pakistan.
In his remarks at the graduation ceremony, the Chief of the Air
Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, stated that in the last
4 years, the NAF had made deliberate efforts to reposition the
Service into a highly professional fighting force, with the
training of over 1,000 SF personnel as part of the overall strategy
for its capacity building initiatives.
The CAS promised to sustain the training of SF personnel to
enhance NAF force projection posture, while also improving its Base
Defence/force protection capability. Air Marshal Abubakar, who
expressed satisfaction with the quality of the training, noted that
NAF SF personnel were making huge impacts in the fight against
terrorism and armed banditry across the country.
According to him, examples of these achievements include the
recent arrest of armed bandits at Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State as
well as the professional conduct of NAF personnel deployed to
support the Nigerian Police in providing security during the
recently concluded General Elections. These performances, the CAS
said, were indications that the efforts of the NAF toward building
an efficient force structure, with the NAF SF as a vital component,
were yielding positive results.
Air Marshal Abubakar charged the graduands to be prepared to do
their best in all circumstances as their future assignments would
require courage, good judgement and commitment. The CAS emphasized
the need for the SF personnel to rededicate themselves to duties
and conduct themselves in accordance with NAF’s core values of
‘Integrity’, ‘Service before Self’ and ‘Excellence’.
He commended the Air Officer Commanding Ground Training Command,
Air Vice Marshal Idi Amin, as well as the Commandant RTC and his
Team of Instructors for their tireless efforts in molding NAF
Regiment personnel. He also assured the Centre of the support of
Headquarters (HQ) NAF to enable it effectively discharge its
responsibility of training elite fighting personnel for the NAF and
the Nation.
While concluding his remarks, the CAS thanked the
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari,
for the priority attention given to the requirements of the NAF.
“The support provided by the Federal Government has no doubt
positively impacted on the NAF and led to increased aircraft
serviceability and availability as well as improved training and
enhanced facilities”, he said. The CAS also appreciated the efforts
of officers, airmen and airwomen of the NAF who participated in
various airlift and other support activities during the recently
concluded elections.
Their achievement, he said, was a major logistics feat.
According to him, the airlift provided by the NAF in support of
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other agencies
was excellent. He highlighted that the NAF used 8 aircraft to
airlift a total of 628,298kg of election materials to 31 different
locations in the country flying about 348 hours in a total 334
sorties.
NAF Ground Support Equipment in several locations were also use
to load and offload the materials from both NAF and non-NAF
aircraft involved in the exercise. This, the CAS said, was a clear
testament to the improved support provided to the NAF by the
Federal Government to the improved airlift capacity of the Service,
which was made possible by the serviceability status of the 8
aircraft involed in the exercise.
While unveiling the new accoutrements and insignia of the NAF
Regiment as well as the new nickname of the SF – ‘the PANTHERS’ -,
the Director of Regiment HQ NAF, Air Commodore Babatunde Phillips,
highlighted how the specialty had been transformed over the past 4
years with massive capacity building initiatives.
He said that the transformation had resulted in raising the
number of NAF SF personnel from less than 300 in 2015 to a
well-trained, well-equipped and well-motivated force of over 1,000;
along with 44 SF instructors also recently trained. He noted that
the PANTHERS, who were currently deployed for internal security
operations in 14 different States across the country, would
continue to be models of professionalism displaying courage,
valour, strength, swiftness, agility, adaptability and tenacity in
the discharge of their duties.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Commandant RTC, Wing
Commander Stephen Sekegor, noted that the rationale behind the
localization of SF training was to ensure prudent management of
resources while still ensuring qualitative training. He thanked the
CAS for his visionary leadership which had resulted in the
phenomenal enhancement of the capacity the NAF Regiment Specialty
to better conduct base operations in both conventional and
asymmetric warfare environments. He assured the CAS that RTC would
continue to provide the requisite specialized training to meet the
contemporary security challenges facing the Nation.
Highlights of the graduation ceremony included unarmed combat,
weapons handling and Research & Development displays by RTC as
well as the simulation of a coordinated assault on an enemy
location conducted by the graduating SF personnel to the admiration
of guests. Also, certificates and awards were presented to students
who distinguished themselves during the Course. The CAS also
commissioned a newly-constructed SF Command Training Shed as a
joint user facility for the Military Training Centre (MTC) and RTC.
Present at the ceremony were the Commandant Armed Forces Command
and Staff College Jaji, General Officer Commanding 1 Division
Nigerian Army as well as the Air Officers Commanding Air Training
Command and Ground Training Command, amongst many other serving and
retired senior officers.
IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force