.Pledges commitment to ending insurgency
Chief
of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has expressed the
commitment of the Nigerian Airforce NAF to swiftly eliminating the
remnants of insurgents in the North East, saying members of the sect are
already surrendering in large numbers.
Abubakar spoke on Friday in Abuja at a media parley to unveil activities for the 52nd anniversary of the Nigerian AirForce.
He
said although there are still pockets of insurgent attacks on soft
targets, the battle is already being won, urging local communities to
offer credible intelligence to security operatives.
"Looking
at where we are coming from, I think we have done substantially well.
In those days in 2014, you had convoy of vehicles moving round villages
and killing Nigerians but it is no longer so.
"I
believe that very soon, God's willing, we shall come to the end of this
problem. We are at the tail end of this operation" he said.
Abubakar
added that available intelligence showed that many of the terrorists
are exhausted and want to stop fighting. "Some of them are trapped and
they do not know how to come out", he said, adding that intelligence has
it that the group is now divided.
According
to him, it was this development that made the Defence Headquarters to
create a "safe corridor" for repentant Boko Haram fighters, saying the
corridor is for those willing to surrender their arms and be
reintegrated into the society. He was however quick to add that the
military was not offering amnesty to anyone as only the political
authorities can take such decision.
"So, we
came up with the idea of 'safe corridor'. If you want to come out, come
out and then we profile you, keep you under watch before taking the next
step. So many of them are surrendering in large numbers. We have seen
that they are surrendering because they know that there is no escape",
he stated.
On whether the leader of the group
is still alive or using a look-alike in releasing propaganda videos, the
Airforce Chief said the Defence Intelligence Agency DIA is currently
analysing the latest Shekau video to make "sense" of what is contained
therein.
He said despite the enormous
challenges caused by the situation in the Northeast, the airforce is not
overwhelmed. He said in the last nine months, fighter jets in the area
have flown for over 3, 000 hours which translates to a consumption of
3.7m litres of Jet A1 fuel.
Also, he said over a
thousand personnel were trained within the last nine months both
locally and internationally in order to meet up with current demands of
the job.
Abubakar
also hinted of the resolve of the airforce to embark on certain local
maintenance of its equipment as some of her young officers now have
PhD's in aeronautical and space engineering while more are undergoing
further studies.
According to him, the NAF has
invested heavily in the area of Research and Development while also
collaborating with about 15 Nigerian universities.
With
such collaboration, the NAF now produces its own electrolytes and
hydraulic diaphragms, rather than having to wait for six months to
procure same from abroad.
He
said highlights of the 52nd celebration which holds from April 12-15 in
Bauchi state would be lectures, novelty match, flypast, CAS open forum,
reunion variety night, CAS awards, jumat prayers, church service and
humanitarian outreach.
There
will also be a reunion of serving and retired officers in order to
brainstorm on key challenges, hence the team of the anniversary,
"Reuniting for Enhanced Service Delivery and Operational Effectiveness".
Abubakar
said lessons drawn from the reunion would form the basis for the review
of its tactics in tackling emerging challenges in the 21st century.
Established
in 1964 by an Act of Parliament, the Nigerian AirForce was designed to
be a full complement of Nigeria's military defence system.
The
airforce was also to ensure fast and versatile mobility of the armed
forces of Nigeria to provide support to sea-borne and ground forces of
the country.
By PRNigeria
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