The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has said that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will continue to build its capacity to conduct specialized warfare roles in order to further contribute to the effective prosecution of the counter insurgency operation in the Northeast as well as other Internal Security (IS) operations in the Country.
The CAS made this commitment on Thursday 26 September 2019, while commissioning additional residential accommodation, comprising 2 blocks of furnished 10 x 1 bedroom Single Officers Quarters, 3 units of 2 x 3 bedroom semi-detached bungalows, a block of 6 x 2 bedroom flats for Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (SNCOs) as well as 4 blocks of 10 x 1 bedroom transit accommodation for Regiment/Special Forces (SF) personnel, at NAF Base Bauchi.
CAS, who was represented by the Air Officer Commanding Special Operations Command (AOC SOC), Air Vice Marshal James Gwani, stated that training was a continuous process that would ensure the Service remains willing and able to effectively discharge its responsibilities to the Nation. He noted that this was the reason why the Service has continued to expand facilities in all its training institutions and centres, including the Regiment Training Centre (RTC), which now has an Annex in Bauchi that is currently training some SF personnel.
The CAS recalled how the deployment of NAF SF personnel to such operations as HADARIN DAJI in the Northwest, THUNDER STRIKE along the Abuja-Kaduna Road, WHIRL STROKE in Benue as well as DELTA SAFE in the Niger Delta region, amongst others, had added substantial value to the efforts of other security agencies to address the security challenges facing the Nation.
He emphasized that the injection of more of such highly trained personnel into the various theatres, to work with their colleagues from sister Services and other security agencies, will undoubtedly continue to add considerable value to IS operations in the Country.