CAS charges pilots to flush out terrorists, bandits from forest

By Andrew Orolua

Chief of the Air Force (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, said on Tuesday charged fighter jet pilots to flush out terrorists and bandits from our forests.

He said the fighting capacity of the Nigerian Air Force has been strengthened with additional 118 new pilots and there would be no hiding place for terrorists and bandits in our forests.

Abubakar gave the order in Abuja at the combined graduation ceremony of Basic Flying Course 19 batch A, and Tactical Flying Course 24 batch B where a female officer Flight Officer Kafayat Sanni who was decorated barely one year ago as the first female fighter pilot in the NAF and Flight Lieutenant F. Ogbore were awarded a combat rating.

She has indeed made history yet again, by successfully completing the Tactical Flying Training on the Alpha Jet aircraft.

Together with her colleagues, they are now better trained and prepared to be deployed for combat missions in the ongoing counter-insurgency air operations in the North-East and other parts of the country.

Abubakar said that if the Nigerian Air Force maintains the current tempo of training it would meet a target of 139 new pilots before the first quarter of next year.

According to him, “today’s graduation brings the total number of new pilots winged since 2015 to 118, which is a glowing testament to the efficacy of our capacity building initiatives.”

He noted that the winging ceremony is one in the series of remarkable strides of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) towards capacity building.

He maintained that NAF is being reposition into a highly professional and disciplined force that would respond swiftly to Nigeria’s security imperatives.

“Four new pilots who completed their Basic Flying Course were decorated with their basic pilot wings and two other pilots who completed the Tactical Flying Course on the Alpha Jet aircraft got award of combat rating.

The Chief of the Air Staff said pilots have continued to add value to the efforts of the Service in dealing with security challenges in the North East, North West and other parts of the country.

He said that while a good number of NAF officers are currently undergoing various pilot training courses outside the country, our indigenous training institutions has continued to play a crucial role towards the attainment of our capacity building initiatives.

He commended “403 Flying Training School, Kano and 407 Air Combat Training Group, Kainji where the graduands were trained for setting the pace in the provision of high-quality fighter pilot training in the country.

Abubakar also reminded the pilots that the feat they have achieved also comes with a burden of responsibility adding that much will be expected of them by the NAF and Nigerians whose scarce resources was used to train them.

Therefore, he urged them to continue to give their best to the Service and the nation as “NAF cannot be strong and effective without our collective contributions no matter how modest they may be.”

He further charged them to “be confident, courageous and patriotic in the discharge of your duties in the Ops theatres that you may be deployed to.”

Particularly, now that they have earned their Limited Combat Rating, “you will be required to work harder and fly with more precision in order to meet up with the expectations of Nigerians in the various operational theatres.”

“There shall be no hiding place for armed bandits or terrorists in any of our forests,” he charged.

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Earlier, in a welcome address, the Chief of Training and Operations Air Vice Marshal JMD Gwani has said the new pilots would further enhance NAF’s air power.

He said the trainings are being conducted in line with CAS objective of human capacity development.