NAF commission new housing blocks, secondary school in Lagos

Following its commitment to provide personnel with the needed comfort to deliver in their security mandate, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has built and commissioned two blocks of Air-men Transit accommodation for its men at Shasha in Lagos.

At the event where a secondary school with 18 classroom blocks, library, laboratories and other recreational centres were commissioned, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal SB Abubakar, noted that the accommodation will be available to non-commissioned officers posted to Lagos.

Speaking at the commissioning which held in Lagos on Wednesday, the CAS maintained that the decision to build the school was due to the riguor of children of its personnel having to walk long distances to school.

He said: “Education is the foundation for human capital development and presumed to be a key factor in technical advancement and innovation. Given that competence, ability and performance are often derived from sound education.

“On my assumption of office, we made a quick assessment of the available primary and secondary schools in our bases and identified some gaps necessitating the upgrading of some of the schools and building of additional ones to meet the educational requirements of our personnel’s dependents and the host communities.

“NAF Shasha has 18 classrooms, five laboratories, a library and recreational facilities, as well as offices for the commandant and other members of staff.

On the transit accommodation, he said the airmen will remain there for the next few months with w view to ensuring improved mentor ship and continued post-recruitment training for enhanced performance.

Each block consists of 30 fully furnished self-contained rooms. And it’s worth mentioning that similar blocks are being provided in major Nigerian NAF bases across the country.”

While commending the presidency for his continued support, Abubakar said the NAF recently received new platform, while others in its inventory are undergoing reactivation.

This, he said, has contributed immensely towards equipping the service to conduct counter insurgency operations and also contend with other emerging security challenges across the country.

He emphasized that the Nigerian Air force will continue to her best in meeting their statutory responsibility of defending the territorial integrity of the nation.

The Air Officer Commanding Logistics command, Air vice Marshal IJ Yahaya who also applauded the act of the CAS, stated that the blocks were built and furnished to meet the growing accommodation needs occasioned by the ongoing expansion of the service in response to national security imperatives.

He said: “Two other projects are also currently ongoing in this base; a block of 18 flats of two-bedroom for Senior Non-Commissioned Officer’s, as well as new coporals and below mess.

“The Air Force Secondary Schoo, Shasha is a promise fulfilled. On April 19, 2016, the CAS was here to commission two newly constructed classroom blocks for the school.

“During that event, he was reminded of the urgent need for a secondary school in the base to address the difficulty experienced by personnel’s children commuting long distances daily to attend school at Ikeja base.

In line with his policy of efficiency service delivery, the CAS promptly gave authorisation for the establishment of a secondary school for NAF base in Shasha. All these are part of the massive infrastructural development projects executed by the CAS since his assumption of office.

“Like many other units and bases across the country, the NAF base Shasha has benefitted immensely from different projects and these includes the construction of a drainage system to address the perennial flooding in the barracks and the neighborhood, as well as provision of additions residential quarters and renovation of some existing ones,” the Air chief said.