NAF Aircraft Eliminate 100 Armed Bandits in
Zamfara
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), through the Air Component of
Operation HADARIN DAJI (AC OPHD) has decimated 7 armed bandits
camps and neutralized close to 100 armed bandits in air
interdiction missions executed under subsidiary Operation WUTAN
DAJI 2 from 12 – 16 September 2020.
During the subsidiary operation, which was aimed at taking out
some identified locations in Zamfara State, including hideouts
within the Doumbourou and Kwiambana Forests as well as at Dutse
Asola and Dutsen Bagai, the Air Component conducted 18 missions in
82 sorties, flying over 100 operational hours with about 36,000
litres of Jet A1 fuel expended. This was disclosed today, 17
September 2020, when the Air Component Commander of the Operation,
Wing Commander Ahmed Hamidu, briefed the Chief of the Air Staff
(CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, on the conduct of the
Operation. The CAS, who was in Katsina on an Operational Visit,
commended the AC OPHD for the successes so far recorded. He however
urged them to sustain the intensity of operations in order to deny
the armed bandits safe havens as well as curtail their ability to
attack innocent civilians. While in Katsina, the CAS also inspected
facilities and ongoing projects at the NAF Base and interacted with
the pilots as well as other officers, airmen and airwomen of the AC
OPHD.
Speaking after the briefing and inspection, the CAS expressed
his satisfaction with the level of progress made and results
achieved. He therefore commended the Air Officer Commanding Special
Operations Command (AOC SOC), Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Charles Ohwo,
as well as the Air Component Commander and his staff for their
commitment towards securing the lives and properties of people in
the affected areas. While stating that the subsidiary Operation
WUTAN DAJI 2 was part of the overall effort to eliminate armed
bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other criminal elements
from troubled parts of the North West and North Central Zones of
the Country under the Defence Headquarters (DHQ)-led Operation
HADARIN DAJI, Air Marshal Abubakar noted that the missions
conducted had translated into the relative peace being experienced
in Zamfara and surrounding States. He reiterated that the NAF would
continue to work in synergy with the Nigerian Army and other
security agencies until lasting peace is restored to all parts of
the Country.
The CAS added that he had also noted the infrastructural gaps in
the NAF Base Katsina which, he said, the Service is working hard to
address in order to ensure that personnel who are conducting combat
missions and maintaining the aircraft have conducive work and home
environments to enable them be more effective in carrying out their
various tasks. In this regard, Air Marshal Abubakar expressed the
appreciation of the NAF to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, for his immense
support that had enabled the Service to acquire new aircraft and
reactivate erstwhile unserviceable platforms, conduct robust and
result oriented training as well as provide necessary
infrastructure and meet other welfare needs of personnel. He noted
that this had empowered the Service to continue to contribute
meaningfully towards ensuring the security of Nigeria and
Nigerians.
While addressing the personnel, the CAS urged them to continue
to contribute their quota towards mission accomplishment. He said
HQ NAF, on its part, would ensure the sustained availability of
aircraft and associated equipment, along with the necessary
logistics support at various airfields. He therefore urged the
personnel not to give the bandits any breathing space but sustain
the tempo of operations by locating all remaining bandits’ camps
and neutralizing the criminals, wherever they may be found.
The CAS was accompanied on the visit by the Chief of Training
and Operations, AVM James Gwani; Chief of Aircraft Engineering, AVM
Musibau Olatunji; as well as Chief of Logistics, AVM Mohammed
Yakubu, and other senior officers from from Headquarters NAF.
Meanwhile, in its continued efforts to provide support for the
Government and people towards combating the COVID-19 pandemic in
the Country, NAF distributed over 140 cylinders of Liquid Oxygen
(LOX) to 2 Isolation Centres in Abuja. The beneficiary Isolation
Centres are the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwawalada
and the Department of State Services (DSS) Medical Centre, Asokoro.
Before today’s distribution in Abuja, the Federal Medical Centre
(FMC), Yola and Adamawa State Specialist Hospital as well as other
Isolation Centres in the Country had been benefiting from the NAF’s
LOX distribution. The oxygen was produced by the NAF LOX Plant at
the 103 Strike Group (103 STG), NAF Base, Yola, which was
commissioned on 10 July 2017. The LOX Plant has the capacity to
produce 1,000 litres of liquid oxygen every 8 hours, which is
in excess of the NAF’s requirements for its air operations and for
use in its Medical Centres across the Nation.
Speaking while taking delivery of the oxygen cylinders at the
flight line of the 307 Executive Airlift Group (307 EAG), Abuja,
the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who was
represented by the Chief of Medical Services, Air Commodore Gideon
Bako, emphasized that the NAF would continue to support the Federal
Government’s COVID-19 response through the provision of LOX as well
as the availability of its medical facilities for use as isolation
centres whilst sustaining the conduct of airlift support operations
and medical outreach programmes. He further disclosed that, the
NAF’s LOX Plant at the 103 STG NAF Base, Yola, runs 24hrs to ensure
uninterrupted production of pure LOX. According to him, the LOX is
gasified and stored in cylinders for supply to Isolation Centres
and designated hospitals as part of the NAF’s contribution to
efforts aimed at tackling the COVID-19 emergency.
It would be recalled that the NAF, at the height of the
Pandemic, converted its Accident and Emergency Unit at 063 NAF
Hospital (063 NAFH) in Abuja to a COVID-19 Management Centre. The
facility provided a 25-Bed COVID-19 Observation and Treatment
Centre with a small Operation Theatre and sections to treat serious
symptomatic COVID-19 cases as well as observation and treatment of
mild and asymptomatic cases. Also, as part of its contributions
towards fighting the pandemic, the NAF, in May 2020, unveiled 2
emergency ventilators locally produced by a Team of Researchers
from the Air Force Research and Development Centre and Air Force
Institute of Technology, Kaduna in partnership with the Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the
Department of Mechatronics, Federal University of Technology,
Minna.
IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force
17 September 2020