No fewer than 2,000 members of the special forces of the Nigeria Air Force, NAF, have been trained by the British Military Assistant Training Team.
This is part of efforts to strengthen the fight against insurgency.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, made this know on Saturday in Abuja during a lecture delivered as part of the activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Nigerian Air Force.
His words: “In the area of force protection, the British Military Assistant Training Team has assisted the Nigerian Air Force in the training of Regiment personnel as well as over 2,000 Special Forces to enhance Force Protection capabilities of the Nigerian Air Force.”
He added that NAF had improved in different aspects in the efforts to protecting and defending the territorial integrity of Nigeria from the air.
He stressed that it was also doing a lot in the areas of improving her capacity for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions.
“This era also had the Nigerian Air Force expanding its reach through establishment of units in many of the troubled areas such as Zurmi Local Government of Zamfara , Nguroje in Taraba, Agatu in Benue among others.
“Albeit, these efforts may not yield expected results if proper integration with sister Services; which form the Land and Sea components of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, is not achieved,” he explained.
He said the lecture was an intellectual forum which would bring about resolutions that would pave way for a seamless integration of the operations of the forces.
The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, who was represented by Mr Peter Ashibe, the Director Air Force, in the Ministry of Defence, praised the Air Force for its performances in recent time.
“Appraising NAF activities in retrospect while keeping current realities in mind, it gives me great joy to note the speedy rate at which the NAF has metamorphosed into an efficient arm of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“Its fortunes have steadily improved operationally and administratively to the extent that the Nigerian Air Force of today is progressively building capacity and capabilities to effectively respond to internal security challenges, while efficiently projecting air power in defence of Nigeria’s territorial integrity,’’ the minister said.
