ABUJA – The House of Representatives has commended the efforts of the Nigerian Air Force in ensuring security of lives in the country.
Chairman, House Committee on Air Force, Mr Shehu Koko, who stated this during the Committee’s inaugural meeting in Abuja, said the National Assembly was concerned with the numerous security challenges in the country.
Mr Koko, while lauding the efforts of the Nigerian Air Force, listed jurisdictions of the Committee to include, oversight of the Nigerian Air Force Development Projects, among others.
He noted that, the the House through the Committee, will endeavor to strengthen legislative frameworks and provide adequate funding where necessary, through enhanced budgetary allocation to the Nigerian Air Force.
Chief of Air Staff Air Vice Marshal AVM Sadique Abubakar in his remarks stated that the Nigerian Air Force NAF had launched six different operations to tackle insecurity and other forms of criminality in the different parts of the country.
The NAF boss further said that the security agency is saddled with the responsibility of national security and was at a point grappling with serious threat to national security by bandits and criminals in Nigeria.
He informed the Committee that in the last five years, the agency had done everything possible to protect Nigerian citizens and also protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
According to the Air Chief, NAF launched six different operations to tackle insecurity particularly insurgency and banditary in the north-east state of Borno and some few other northern states of the country.
He listed the different operations as follows: Operation Lafia Dole, Safe Heaven, Thunder Strike, Hadarin Daji, Swift Response and Delta Safe.
Speaking further on the achievements of the agency, he said that it had successfully evacuated stranded Nigerians from crisis prone areas in Cameroon and also have sent relief materials to victims of similar crisis in Malawi, Gambia other African nations.
He equally informed the lawmakers that NAF had expended 64,964,000 hours to tackle these security challenges adding that it expended 924,000 hours in the north-east region alone.
He also commended the lawmakers in both the Senate and House of Representatives for passing the Air Force Institute of Technology Establishment Bill into law saying that it will help in its operations as well as capacity building.
Chairman of the House Committee
Hon.Shehu Koko commended the efforts of the NAF boss and his management team for successfully engaging the first female pilot to fly one of its aircraft in its sixty-five years of operations.
The House therefore, promised to do everything possible to support and uplift the Nigerian Air Force through the Committee.
