Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has blamed recent successful
attack on a defence base of the Nigerian Air Force by the Boko Haram
terrorists, on some
base commanders, who he said were yet to imbibe and adopt
the tenets of new base defence concept.
The Air
Force boss, according to a statement by Director of Public Relations and
Information of the service, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, spoke at a
recent retreat in Kaduna for base commanders. Boko Haram member “Recent
evaluations of the bases revealed that many commanders and bases were yet to
imbibe and adopt the tenets of the new base defence concept,” he said.
Vanguard reported that, To this
end, he said the retreat, therefore, was to afford participants the opportunity
to rub minds and exchange ideas and experiences towards engendering effective
implementation of the new concept across the Nigerian Air Force. He said:
“Given the importance of bases in air power delivery
matrix, it is not inconceivable to expect our adversaries to target our bases.
“As a matter of fact, we have had an attack on one of our airbases in the
recent past, and current intelligence reports keep highlighting the possibility
of attacks on our bases.” The two-day retreat, which took place between May 25
and 26, at the recently commissioned Ibrahim Alfa auditorium in the Air Force
Institute of Technology Kaduna, was basically on base defence planning.
The
retreat was aimed at further educating relevant stakeholders on the new NAF
base defence concept, which is premised on the development and deployment of an
air-minded ground defence force, trained and equipped as special light infantry
and capable of operating both inside and outside the base perimeter against
contemporary threats, while leveraging on intelligence and available modern
technology. Abubakar, who was the special guest of honour at the retreat,
reminded participants that despite its potency, air power still had
limitations, one of which was the issue of security of bases.
“All these
reinforce the need to emplace a robust base defence concept that is capable of
providing guidance for responding to a wide range of situations that may
threaten our bases, “ he said. In a related development, Air Marshal Sadique
Abubakar has commissioned the newly
built Regiment Training Centre and electronic shooting range, both in Kaduna.
An interesting development was the naming of the Regiment Training Centre and
the electronic range after late Air Commodore Anthony Ikhazoboh and late Group
Captain Williams Pratt respectively.
Both retired senior officers contributed
significantly to NAF base defence while in service and it was considered most
befitting to honour them, as a way of encouraging those alive. The Regiment
Training Centre, which has the capacity to accommodate 300 trainees
simultaneuosly, and the Electronic Range, were constructed to further develop
the capacity of personnel for base defence.
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