Thirteen Officers of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) who partook in the Initial Air Traffic Control Officers’ Course 1/2018 graduated as Air Traffic Control Officers.
In his speech at the graduation ceremony, the Commandant Air Traffic Services Training Centre (ATSTC) AVM Haruna Umar Mohammed said, the Initial Air Traffic Control Officers Course was conceived and initiated with the primary purpose of imparting in selected Nigerian Air Force officers, the basic skills and knowledge required to function effectively as Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs) as well as to obtain both military and civil ATC licenses for the purpose of providing Air Traffic Services to both military and civil air operations in Nigeria.
The IATCO Course is a 6 months’ intensive ATC training programme aimed at preparing young NAF officers to become ATCOs during which the student officers were required to pass a course of instruction in relevant theoretical subjects as well as undergo several practical sessions to build their capacity.
The programme is further designed to groom the officers to meet the high standard required in the provision of air traffic services to both military and civil air operations in Nigeria.
“There is no doubt that the intended learning objectives of the course have been fully realized. The students offers are now better equipped and positioned to contribute effectively to air operations in the NAF and the nation in general” he stated.
The Special guest of honour at the ceremony, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Training Command Air Vice Marshal Zubair Suleiman Mohammed in his addressed said it was gratifying to note that the NAF is making concerted effort towards the continuous development of this great institution into a hub of excellence in Air Traffic Services, human capacity development, not only for the benefit of the NAF but indeed for the nation as a whole
“The need for quality Air Traffic Services personnel in an air operations environment cannot be overemphasized. Training as we all know has remained a major agent of transformation over time; no wonder it is one of the key drivers of the Chief of the Air Staff’s Vision which is ‘To reposition the NAF into a highly professional and disciplined force through capacity building initiative for effective, efficient and timely employment of air power in response to the Nigeria National Security imperative’.
“It is evident from the quality of the graduands today that ATSTC is working to actualize the Chief’s vision through the hard work, dedication, and commitment of its staff. I believe that the knowledge imparted unto the graduands of this Course will go a long way towards improving safety and efficiency in our operational units”.
He, therefore, implored the Centre not to rest on its oars but to continuously strive towards improving the course curriculum and making it more relevant to our environment.
“For the graduands, today marks another important day in your lives and a significant milestone in your career. I know the past 6 months have been tedious with several assignments, tests and practical sessions. All these were aimed at giving you the requisite foundation to enable you to discharge your duties as ATCOs.
“I am pleased to inform you that coordination towards your movement to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria is in progress. Accordingly, I must emphasize that this is just a foundation that you will be required to build upon through further reading and continuously applying yourselves to assigned responsibilities.
“The field experience that you will subsequently have would no doubt be an indispensable resource for building on the foundation you have acquired at the long run. Therefore, as you step into the aviation world proper, take good advantage of the opportunities open to you and work with your instructors both civil and military as well as your seniors in the field with a view to building your capacity, acquiring more experience to develop yourself further.
“Assuredly, there is a world of opportunities out there for you in your chosen specialty. I, therefore, enjoin you to seize the opportunities available to make a positive impact in the Service and make your families proud.
“You must, therefore, do your best to contribute your quota to the upliftment of air operations in view of our current internal security challenges. As you depart from here, endeavor to be good ambassadors of the Centre and the NAF as a whole through your professionalism and exemplary conduct. Also remember that you can only justify the training you have received here by the quality of your output wherever you go.
“I urge you to strive to make your good better and your better best; continuous improvement should be your watchword. I would also like to commend the Comdt ATSTC and his staff for their dedication and commitment to the success of this Course”.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Task Force (ATF) of “Operation LAFIYA DOLE” has neutralized Boko Haram terrorist camps at Zanari and Tunbun Rego, in Borno.
Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said that the operation was carried out on Monday.
"The NAF ATF of Operation LAFIYA DOLE has recorded further gains in the ongoing air interdiction operations designed to wipe out remnants of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) within the fringes of Lake Chad.
"This occurred as the ATF on Aug.20 conducted air strikes on BHT camps at Zanari and Tunbun Rego in Borno State.
"The air strikes at Zanari were planned and executed based on intelligence reports indicating that the BHTs had established a training camp in the village and were converging in an area prior to departing for an attack on own troops locations around the Lake Chad area.
“Accordingly, the ATF scrambled II NAF Alpha Jet aircraft for a pre-emptive strike on two specified locations within Zanari, where the BHTs were assembled,” he said.
Daramola said that the fighter aircraft acquired and attacked both locations, neutralizing several BHTs, with only few survivors seen fleeing the area, adding that ” these were later mopped up by follow-on rocket strikes”.
"Similarly, another identified BHT rendezvous point and staging area on the outskirts of Tunbun Rego was also attacked and destroyed by the Alpha Jets,” the spokesman said.
He said that the NAF would continue to deploy its platforms to conduct intensive Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance missions in the entire Northeast aimed at discovering the possible locations of remnants of BHTs and neutralizing them.
The Air Task Force (ATF) of Operation Lafiya Dole has killed several Boko Haram Terrorists at Bulagaye and Kwakwa areas of Borno State.
Adesanya said upon receiving reports of the attack, the ATF scrambled Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform and the Alpha Jet aircraft to locate the fleeing terrorists.
Consequently, he said the insurgents, who were seen assembling at a staging area in Bulagaye began to disperse upon sighting the attack platforms.
“However, the NAF fighter aircraft acquired and attacked the fleeing insurgents with bombs and rockets. As a result of the air strikes, the terrorists were neutralized while their vehicles and weapons were destroyed, leading to a thick cloud of black smoke,” he stated.
According to Adesanya, intelligence reports later revealed that a smaller bunch of the terrorists had re-assembled in a settlement known as Kwakwa with the ATF conducting a wave of strikes on the location.
He said the ISR platform successfully identified the terrorists’ location and vectored the attack platforms to the target area, which was attacked with bombs and rockets.
The NAF Spokesman also said that some of the terrorists were seen fleeing towards a nearby settlement and further attacked with rockets and then neutralized.
He promised that the Air Task Force would continue to conduct missions in support of the efforts of our troops in the counterinsurgency operations in the Northeast while also providing Close Air Support when requested to do so.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Tuesday explained that it could not have denied the flight chartered by some Southern leaders to take them to Makurdi, the capital of Benue State on Monday, landing permit, since it did not receive any application for the facility.
The President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nwodo, had at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, claimed that he and some other Southern Nigeria leaders, who were on their way to Makurdi from Abuja to attend a rally on restructuring by the Middle Belt Forum, were denied landing permit, effectively aborting their trip.
Billed to attend the rally were Nwodo, Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, and South-south leader, Chief Edwin Clark, among others.
But the NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, in a statement in Abuja, denied the allegation, saying the air force did not receive any application for the use of the facility.
However, a Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, whose leaders were part of the aborted trip, faulted the claim of the NAF, insisting that they duly applied for the permit in line with the directive of the airport authorities.
Adesanya stated that the runway at NAF Base was not a dual-user facility but one constructed strictly for military purpose, which requires that potential users should apply before landing at the base.
He stressed that in line with global best practices, there was a clearly established procedure for non-NAF aircraft to operate into and out of the runway in Makurdi, and that procedure was well known to all pilots in Nigeria.
The DOPRI also noted that many airlines had in the past adhered to the stipulated procedure and successfully landed and took off from the NAF runway in Makurdi.
According to him, the procedure includes, a written request to NAF Headquarters, Abuja for permission for a specific aircraft to operate into its airfield on a specific date and time, including the names of the passengers and other necessary details.
He explained:
“In this case, there was indeed a request for permit by the Benue State Government, dated July 16, 2018, for an aircraft with registration number 5N-FCT to land at the NAF Base Makurdi on July 16, 2018. Although requests for landing permits are expected to reach NAF Headquarters not later than two days before the desired landing date, the NAF went out of its way to expedite the process and accordingly granted the permit for the aircraft with registration number 5N-FCT to land at NAF Base Makurdi on July 16, 2018.
“However, at about 5p.m on July 16, 2018, the NAF was verbally informed that there was a need to change the aircraft for which permission had already been issued, reportedly because the aircraft had developed snags.
‘’The NAF, therefore, asked for another written request, in line with the established procedure. As at date, the NAF Headquarters is yet to receive a written request for the replacement aircraft with Registration Number 5N-IZY to land at its Base in Makurdi.”
Adesanya said the NAF did not concern itself with political or religious affiliations of individuals/ organizations in granting landing rights at its airfields.
He maintained that the issue of security and safety remained uppermost, noting that the ongoing Operation Whirl Stroke was largely being coordinated from NAF Base Makurdi, with fighter aircraft flying in and out of the base.
He also assured Nigerians that NAF remains a highly professional and apolitical organization that would rather focus on its military duties.
We Applied, Counters Afenifere
Meanwhile, Afenifere Tuesday disagreed with NAF, insisting that the landing permit was duly applied for in line with the directive of the airport authorities.
The group’s National Treasurer, Chief Olasupo Shonibare, and its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, gave their accounts of what transpired in separate telephone interviews with COLOSSUS GISTS Tuesday, lamenting that they were kept waiting at the Abuja Airport for hours on Monday.
In his conversation with COLOSSUS GISTS, Shonibare explained that the southern leaders approached two different airlines before they eventually knew that the airport authorities were acting on the instruction from the above.
He said:
“The first airline knew there was already an order that we should not be allowed to Makurdi, Benue State. As a result, the airline claimed there was bad weather. But the airline was already aware that we would be denied landing permit.
“Unknowingly, we approached the second airline. Immediately, its staff started processing our request to fly to Makurdi on chartered flight. But midway, the airline management called Makurdi Airport, perhaps to get clearance.
“After the call, the airline management directed that we should write an application for landing permit. At first, we protest the demand for an application for landing permit.
“We protested because we had been flying the chartered flight on the same route without writing an application for landing permit. One of us, a veteran ex-soldier, who was head of Nigerian military forces in Sudan, went to the commandant in Abuja.
“The commandant told us that it was part of new security measures in all Nigerian airports. Eventually, we agreed to write an application for a landing permit. We immediately applied to the Airport Commandant in Makurdi.
“But the commandant told us that it was part of new security measures. He later told us that even if we wrote the application, it was not a guarantee for an approval. We then made further inquiry.”
At that point, the national treasurer noted that the answer they got obviously showed that the powers-that-be
“has given an order not to allow us fly to Makurdi on Monday. That is how we could not attend the Middle Belt Conference”.
In a separate interview, Odumakin faulted the claims of the airport authorities, noting that it “is not true we did not apply for a landing permit. We applied for it”.
Also speaking to COLOSSUS GISTS, Adebanjo said: “They are just finding excuses. This is not the first time we are going there. They are just finding excuses. We have been there before. When they were massacred, we were the first delegation to visit them. That is why they are finding this untenable excuses, and thinking they are talking to school children.
“It is unfortunate for people like us. It is a sad story that the country is going back. To people like me, it is a sad story. We never thought we will ever go back to it again.”
The relative serenity of Igbogene, a suburb of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, was shattered Sunday when suspected gunmen attacked a Nigerian Air Force helipad, killing an airman in the process.
The helipad is being maintained by the Nigerian Air Force Mobility Command, which has its headquarters in Yenagoa.
According to investigations, the gunmen, numbering six, had stormed the helipad and opened fire on Air Force personnel on duty. The targeted personnel, however, repelled the attack by fighting back.
One airman was said to have been killed, with others were wounded, while the gunmen were said to have carted away arms and ammunition.
The leadership of the Mobility Command has briefed Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who has ordered an investigation into the incident.
A terse press statement from the Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal Olatokubo Adesanya, confirmed that Sadique has ordered a probe of the incident.
The statement read in part:
“In the early hours of Sunday, 13 May 2018, a group of unknown gunmen attacked the guard post at Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Helipad at Igbodene in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Although the NAF personnel on duty were able to repel the attack, an airman paid the supreme sacrifice in the process.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has immediately ordered an investigation to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident”
A former Chief of Administration, Nigerian Air Force (NAF) headquarters, Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Alkali Mamu (rtd), on Monday told Justice Salisu Garba of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that he was tutored and teleguided by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in making his statement.
He is standing trial on a four count amended charges of corruption and bribery preferred against him by the commission.
Mamu, while being led in evidence by his counsel, Chief Joseph Daudu, SAN, narrated how the EFCC suppressed part of his statement and also threatened to involve his two daughters should he fail to refund the money he was being accused of collecting as bribe.
He explained that his request that his lawyers be present during his interrogation and his subsequent writing of his statement was turned down on the grounds that all they were after was the recovery of funds.
He said though he was accompanied to the EFCC’s office by one Commander Sunday Jigawa who was at that time NAF Deputy Director, the operatives refused to allow him be by his side.
“The first statement I wrote is not before this court. The additional statement marked n1 and n4 obtained from St1 was removed from the statement I made.
”Again I noticed that the supporting documents I submitted both in st1 and St 2 are not before this court,” he said.
Mamu told the court that his vehicles impounded by the EFCC are still in the custody of the anti-graft agency and prayed the court for an order to return the vehicles and or replace them.
He further prayed the court to compel the EFCC operatives to return the sum of $300,000 and N5.9million they obtained from him.
Prosecuting counsel, Sylvanus Tahir who had opposed the tendering of the 2nd document said, the documents were never part of the proceedings.
Tahir, wondered why a document addressed to the AGF will be tendered to a different agency of government and added that they were gross violation of Section 102,103 and 104 of the Evidence Act and therefore cannot be admissible.
Justice Garba adjourned to 13 and 14 December for ruling on the objections of prosecution counsel to the admissibility of some of the documents and for cross examination by the prosecution.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it has intensified day and night aerial bombardments of insurgents’ locations within the North-East region.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.
According to Adesanya, on Oct. 26, the fourth day of the ongoing Operation ‘RUWAN WUTA II,’ NAF conducted air interdiction on some structures in Dure, insurgents infested location, 12km East of Sambisa.
“Reports from NAF intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms have revealed the gradual resurgence of insurgent activities in the settlement, particularly at the targeted structures, which were hideouts for the terrorists.
“Five aircraft, namely three Alpha Jets and two F-7Ni, conducted the air interdiction missions.
“The Alpha Jet aircraft and the F-Ni aircraft took turns to attack the location with bombs, destroying the targeted structures and killing the terrorists.
“The Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) conducted after the strikes revealed that some of the structures were razed by the bomb explosions,” he said.
The director added that on the same day, NAF conducted air interdiction missions on insurgents infested settlement in Mangusum.
He said the location was attacked in succession by the aircraft, which dropped bombs destroying structures in the location and sending a few of the surviving insurgents fleeing.
“Thereafter, another Alpha Jet aircraft followed up with rocket and cannon attacks in the target area, strafing the fleeing terrorists in the process.
“Subsequent BDA of the attack indicated some burnt structures and significant casualties inflicted on the insurgents,” he was quoted in the statement.
He said the operation, which was initiated by NAF leadership, as a follow-up to the hugely successful Operation ‘RUWAN WUTA,’ had so far proved to be even more successful.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has commissioned a multi-purpose fitness centre at its base in Yenagoa, as part of efforts to promote the physical fitness of its personnel. The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who was represented by the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Mobility Command, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Steven Onuh, performed the commissioning.
The representative of the CAS noted that the military is an institution, which undertakes a lot of physical activities and as such must be physically and mentally alert.
The representative of the CAS noted that the military is an institution, which undertakes a lot of physical activities and as such must be physically and mentally alert.
AVM Onuh expressed hope that the fitness centre would go a long way in boosting the morale of NAF personnel to achieve the desired level of preparedness to cope with the operational commitment of the NAF in the ever changing security environment. The AOC further stated that physical fitness is not only a prerequisite for operational preparedness but also a key determinant of the overall well-being of individuals.
According to him, the NAF has embarked on massive promotion of physical and sporting activities by upgrading facilities and constructing well-equipped fitness centres across its bases in the country. He then reminded personnel of the responsibilities the security challenges in the country have imposed on the Armed Forces and therefore advised personnel to avail themselves of the advantage of the fitness centre.
According to him, the NAF has embarked on massive promotion of physical and sporting activities by upgrading facilities and constructing well-equipped fitness centres across its bases in the country. He then reminded personnel of the responsibilities the security challenges in the country have imposed on the Armed Forces and therefore advised personnel to avail themselves of the advantage of the fitness centre.
In his remarks at the occasion, the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of Mobility Command, AVM Awoyoola expressed appreciation to the CAS for providing the befitting fitness centre. According to him, upon assuming office, the AOC Mobility Command embarked on the establishment of a mini sports ground for the personnel aside from other sporting initiatives to encourage participation of personnel in sports.
He added that the newly commissioned fitness centre would thus further encourage personnel in the Command to participate in sporting activities. He also stated that the Command’s decision to name the fitness centre after the CAS was in appreciation of his dynamic leadership style and his constant efforts towards infrastructural development in NAF Base Yenagoa.
The new gymnasium has ultra modern body fitness equipment and table tennis boards, in addition to other facilities.
He added that the newly commissioned fitness centre would thus further encourage personnel in the Command to participate in sporting activities. He also stated that the Command’s decision to name the fitness centre after the CAS was in appreciation of his dynamic leadership style and his constant efforts towards infrastructural development in NAF Base Yenagoa.
The new gymnasium has ultra modern body fitness equipment and table tennis boards, in addition to other facilities.
In line with its commitment to national peace and security, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has deployed some of its air assets, including the Alpha Jet aircraft, to its 115 Special Operations Group in Port Harcourt, to support the ongoing Nigerian Army’s Exercise EGWU EKE II (PYTHON DANCE II).
The essence of the deployment is to provide the necessary air cover to the ground troops to enhance overall operational cohesion and efficiency.
It would be recalled the operation began officially on 15 September 2017 and was planned to cover the entire South East Region of the country. The wide expanse of the exercise area and the request by the Nigerian Army for close air support made the involvement of the NAF inevitable.
Exercise EGWU EKE II is aimed at combating security challenges in the Southeastern part of the country. The deployment of the air assets in support of the Nigerian Army is thus in fulfillment of one of the constitutional mandates of the NAF.
Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force
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