President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to work together towards ensuring unity across Nigeria.
The president while declaring the Air Power seminar of the Nigerian Air Force in Abuja on Monday, November 19, said Nigerians must be unified on the fight against Boko Haram terrorists.
Commending the Nigerian Air Force for pulling such feat with the seminar, the president said the military is saddled with the responsibility of finding practical ways to reinvigorate the fight against insurgency.
He noted that the Seminar is timely since the outbreak of the Boko Haram crisis in the northeast of Nigeria, the NAF and indeed the Armed Forces of Nigeria have been engaged in conducting counter insurgency operations that have challenged the Services’ doctrine, tactics, training, Order of Battle and Force Protection architecture.
President Buhari said: “Seminars like this are necessary for Armed Services like the NAF to draw from the experiences of other armed forces that have either previously or are currently engaged in counter insurgency operations.”
He also canvassed for the “whole of the nation approach” for a successful counterinsurgency operation, noted that there must be unity of efforts across multiple Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Also speaking, the minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, extolled the contributions of the Nigerian Air Force to the defence of the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
Dan-Ali said while noting that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was not unaware of both the kinetic and non-kinetic efforts the NAF has been expending in support of the counterinsurgency operations which have been instrumental in curtailing the insurgents and making life more meaningful for the victims.
He also reaffirmed the readiness of the ministry to continue to ensure the optimum utilization of resources in the procurement of equipment and other requirements for the services in prosecuting the counterinsurgency operations.
The chief of Air staff, Sadique Abubakar, who welcomed dignitaries to the event, stated that the hosting of the maiden edition of the NAF International Air Power Seminar is necessitated by the security situation in Nigeria.
Abubakar said the rapidly changing dynamics in the international arena and the evolving approach to warfare require careful understanding of the threats and response options available for the projection of Air Power in addressing National Security imperatives.
According to him, the changing character of warfare has emphasised the need for a change in the way armed forces approach warfare engagements.
Abubakar said: “While the engagement in conventional or regular warfare remains a possibility, the global predominant threat to nations has become more irregular in nature.”
He also commended the federal government of Nigeria for creating the enabling environment for the enthronement of professionalism in the service which has led to enhanced operational effectiveness as well as the optimization of local technology through research and development.
Meanwhile, we previously reported that NAF had graduated another batch of 30 officers from the Young Officers’ Course (YOC) at the Military Training Centre (MTC), NAF Base Kaduna.
We gathered that the YOC is a 3-month course aimed at developing the capacity of NAF officers, of the rank of flying officer, for future leadership tasks.
During the YOC, the officers were groomed in subjects such as general service knowledge, staff duties, asymmetric warfare principles and NAF Base defence concept, among others, to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency.
