Defence Minister Hails AFWC on Graduation of 20 War Officers of Course 5

Defence Minister Hails AFWC on Graduation of 20 War Officers of
Course 5

The Honourable Minister of Defence (HMOD), Major General Bashir
Magashi (retired), has charged graduands of the Air Force War
College (AFWC) Course 5/2019 to be innovative and inject fresh
ideas into the nation’s security system. According to him, this is
where their knowledge of joint operations and application of Air
Power would be required to further ensure that peace returns in
earnest to trouble spots in the Country. This charge was given
today, 13 December 2019, during the Graduation Ceremony of AFWC
Course 5/2019 held at the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Base
Makurdi.

The HMOD, who was represented by the Chief of Defence Staff
(CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin, as Special Guest of Honour
(SGOH) at the occasion, said “the changing nature of warfare poses
new challenges to security forces. Sub-conventional threats are on
the rise creating a significantly more complex strategic
environment, both at the global and regional levels. The nature of
these challenges makes it necessary to be innovative and explore
contemporary ways and means to tackle them. Invariably, doctrinal
development, force structure, planning and equipment provisioning
for asymmetric warfare become much more challenging problems than
what is obtainable in a conventional war. To this end, I must
commend the efforts of the NAF at focusing its force structure to
address the widely dispersed challenges, while at the same time,
exploring local talents and resources to address equipment
maintenance through research”, he added.

The SGOH also lauded the efforts of the Chief of the Air Staff
(CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, for not only being the first
to establish a single Service War College, but also for graduating
the fifth set of senior officers from the College. According to
him, there is no doubt that the AFWC is now an established citadel
of knowledge for transiting tactical level officers into
operational level commanders. The transition, he said, aptly fits
into the needed security architecture of the country in the wake of
current security challenges. Speaking further, the SGOH noted that
the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) had continued to perform
creditably well in addressing the various internal security
challenges facing the nation. He said the NAF’s role in employing
Air Power, being a critical component of the military instrument of
National Power, has remained a formidable force in dealing with
these challenges and preserving the nation’s territorial integrity.
He therefore commended the efforts of the NAF, especially for the
crucial role it has been playing in the ongoing counterinsurgency
and counter-terrorism operations, while noting that “the Service
has also attracted tremendous goodwill and credibility to the
nation through the provision of airlift and humanitarian support
for the African Union, United Nations and friendly African
countries”.

In his remarks, the CAS stated that the event marked a major
milestone for the participants as well as the College as it
graduates the fifth set of well-trained operational level officers
of the NAF and sister Services. He said the unstructured, dynamic
and complex nature of security threats facing the country
necessitated a reorientation of the Nation’s security apparatus to
enable it effectively contain the emerging challenges. According to
him, a major component of the required paradigm shift is
task-defined training. The AFWC, he said, fulfills this role
through its Air War Course that translates tactical level reasoning
to operational level thinking. He added that the effectiveness of
the training at the College has had significant positive impact on
the quality of officers in the NAF with products from the College
effectively holding forth in both staff, instructional and command
appointments. “I am therefore fulfilled that we had the foresight
and took the initiative to commence the AFWC in November 2016,” he
added.

Speaking further, Air Marshal Abubakar explained that nations
desirous to project military power must equip and structure their
air forces to effectively apply Air Power in a variety of roles.
This, he said, requires the availability of an appropriate mix of
aircraft as well as a motivated and well-trained manpower to
operate the platforms. In terms of aircraft acquisition, the CAS
noted that the NAF had witnessed an unprecedented increase in the
number of aircraft available for operations. He disclosed that,
since 2015, a total of 47 additional aircraft had either been
inducted into the NAF or ordered for the Service. He noted that
these included 19 brand new aircraft already inducted, 17 new ones
(12 Super Tucano, 3 JF-17 Thunder aircraft and 2 Agusta 109
helicopters) ordered with delivery being awaited and 11 others
handed over to the NAF by other Federal Government agencies like
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigeria
Immigration Service (NIS). In the same vein, he said, over 20
previously grounded aircraft had been reactivated within the past 4
years. He highlighted that the platform acquisitions and
reactivation as well as the emplacement of robust logistics support
structure, had enabled the Service to raise the serviceability
status of operable aircraft from about 35 per cent in 2015 to an
average of 75 per cent in November 2019. Regarding human capacity
development, he noted that the Service had stepped up training of
personnel in all NAF specialties, winging over 100 pilots in just
over 4 years with many others undergoing various forms of flying
courses in local and foreign training institutions.

While appreciating the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of
Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, for the strategic guidance
that had made the establishment of AFWC realizable, the CAS stated
that the NAF would continue to work assiduously, along with sister
Services and other security agencies, to ensure a secured and
prosperous Nigeria. He equally expressed his gratitude to the HMOD
and CDS for their continued support to the NAF. While
congratulating the graduands and their families for surmounting
another hurdle in the quest for professional excellence, the CAS
challenged them to bring the skills and lessons acquired during the
course to bear in their future deployments. He also commended the
Commandant, members of faculty and the entire staff of AFWC for
their efforts in ensuring the successful conduct of the course.

In his welcome address, the Commandant AFWC, Air Vice Marshal
Charles Oghomwen, stated that the College strived to effectively
fill the gap in qualitative manpower in the field of Air Power for
the effective conduct of air operations. He said the College is
playing a leading role in the articulation of strategy and doctrine
that is guiding the development of Air Power in the NAF. According
to him, the feedback reaching the College from the field on the
performance of its alumni had been pleasant and encouraging. “I am
optimistic that in the near future, the Service would further begin
to feel the impact of establishing the College through better
application of strategic planning and implementation of doctrines”,
he added.

The AFWC Course 5, which was inaugurated on 27 May 2019, exposed
the 20 graduating participants; 17 from the NAF, 2 from the
Nigerian Navy (NN) and one from the Nigerian Army; to an
appreciable level of training and research in security and defence
studies as well as various assessed exercises, war gaming and
simulation, individual research papers as well as general knowledge
on warfare, with emphasis on Air Power. Highlights of the
graduation ceremony included the conferment of fellowship and
presentation of AFWC certificates to the graduands as well as
presentation of awards to participants who distinguished themselves
on the course. Wing Commander Ifeanyi Ugbene bagged the CAS Award
for emerging best overall participant on the course while Wing
Commander Fatai Ganiyu won the CAS Award as the best in Air Power.
Commander Ismail Lawal of the NN received 2 awards; one for the
best overall research paper and the other for emerging as the best
student from the sister Services. Another major feature of the
occasion was the unveiling of the maiden edition of “The
Air-Mindedness” Magazine, a new publication of the AFWC that
features articles, research papers and lectures on leadership as
well as Air Power and joint operational studies.

Among the many dignitaries at the colourful event were; the
Director Air Force Ministry of Defence, representative of the Benue
State Governor, the Chief of Defence Intelligence, representatives
of other Service Chiefs as well as representatives of the Tor Tiv
and Ochi Idoma, Branch Chiefs from NAF Headquarters, Air Officers
Commanding and Commandants of the Army and Naval War Colleges.

IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force