The Nigerian Armed Forces has purchased 10 trainer war planes and helicopter gunship from Pakistan and Russia respectively in a bid to completely rout out insurgency.
This was made known by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sidique Abubakar at a breakfast meeting at NAF Conference Centre & Suites, Abuja with editors of major online news platforms over the weekend.
He talked about the difficulty of buying military hardware, saying that a country could have the resources to purchase any type of military equipment it desired but could still have challenge owing to politics involved in the sale of military hardware. He said this had affected Nigeria over time. He said some countries were unwilling to sell arms to Nigeria.
He informed that the Pakistani Chief of Air Staff was expected in Nigeria because that country had accepted to sell 10 trainer aircraft to Nigeria.
“That’s why he is coming to the country. We are also expecting a helicopter gunship from Russia before the end of this month.
“As a developing country, we don’t produce aircraft. Even the process of getting spare parts is hard. There is a lot of politics involved even when you have the money.
“Sometimes, I see online comments: ‘Why is Nigeria operating this old aircraft.’ I just laugh. People don’t know. Even if you have your money you might not see one to buy, even spare parts. That’s why we are forced to go into research and development.
“To get just quotation to buy spare parts, sometimes it takes four months to get a response depending on the relationship you have with the country. It is not easy. Some will say why are we not buying F16? But will the owner of F16 sell to you even if you have money.”
The Air Force Chief said, Nigeria was enjoying support from friendly countries even as many of them are not willing to sell military hardware to Nigeria.
He disclosed about 700 Air Force personnel have been trained in different parts of the world to enhance their capacity to combat insurgency.
He said the focus is on upgrading of combat aircraft, capacity building and welfare of airmen and other personnel as they join the soldiers to fight insurgency in the northeast.
The CAS disclosed that the British Royal Air Force has so far trained about 150 NAF officers so as to be able to cope with security emergencies at the nation’s airports.
To boost Operation, Air Marshal Abubakar, said emphasis is being laid on research and development, adding that NAF has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 15 Nigerian Universities in the areas of producing aircraft spare parts locally.
The efforts he said are yielding positive results as 12 airplanes that had been packed have now been activated by the Buhari administration and now being used to fight the Boko Haram Insurgents.
Speaking on the collaboration between NAF and Nigerian Army, Abubakar said NAF personnel were preoccupied with identifying targets and softening the grounds for the army to move in for land operation.
He said NAF has carried out air bombardment for 48 hours to soften the ground for army ahead of moving into Sambisa forest.
On the welfare of officers and men, CAS said provision of massive accommodation is ongoing, even as the post-service housing scheme is being extended to cover non-commissioned officers.
Also, the CAS said more schools and skills acquisition centres are being built for children of NAF personnel while hospitals are being expanded and equipped.
The Air Chief also spoke about gathering intelligence, saying people in the local communities are being looked after through the medical outreach programme.
He said the cordial relationship between the Service and people living in the insurgency-ravaged communities is yielding positive results in intelligence gathering.
“These are the strategies we are using and I think substantially, we are making a lot of progress, the Air Force Chief said.