In continuation of its capacity building initiatives to effectively tackle various security challenges confronting the Nation, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has commenced the training of another batch of Special Forces (SF) personnel.
In a statement released on Wednesday 9th October 2019 by the Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF states that the Special Forces Course 5/2019 was inaugurated today, 9 October 2019, at the Regiment Training Centre (RTC) Annex in Bauchi.
According to him, the Special Forces Course, which is the seventh of such training programmes by the current NAF administration, is the first to be conducted at the newly established RTC Annex in Bauchi.
“The choice of Bauchi is to enable the trainees to acclimatize to the arid conditions prevalent in the North East, as well as decongest the RTC’s main training facility in Kaduna”.
Inaugurating the Course, the Air Officer Commanding Ground Training Command (AOC GTC), Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Idi Amin, stated that the training programme was yet another glowing demonstration of the realization of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar’s, vision of repositioning the NAF into a highly professional and disciplined force through capacity building initiatives for effective, efficient and timely employment of airpower in response to Nigeria’s national security imperatives.
He stated that the building of capacity of NAF SF was borne out of the need to ensure the robust defence of NAF Bases and air assets to enable the Service continue to project air power effectively, thereby bridging the gap between Air Power projection and force protection.
“The robust capacity built has also enabled the Service to more effectively contribute to the protection of critical national assets, like our Airports, as well as provide support to sister Services and other security agencies in internal security operations across the country”, he added.
The AOC GTC stated further that SF capabilities hold great importance to military operations worldwide.
According to him, the Special Forces are highly trained and motivated forces who possess an array of skills and are capable of operating in all types of terrain and weather conditions in order to achieve favour