President Muhammadu Buhari stated on Saturday that his administration has restored trust and respect in the nation’s security forces in the previous few years through massive investments in military gear, training, research, and innovation.
Speaking at the grand finale of the Nigerian Air Force’s (NAF) 59th anniversary, held at the Air Force Base in Enugu, the president stated that he had accomplished this by prioritizing professionalism to enable the NAF to effectively discharge its responsibilities, and ensuring substantial investments in acquiring new platforms and other support equipment for the military and other security agencies, as well as reactivating and upgrading other existing platoons.
He said: “In the last four years, the administration acquired new air platforms for the Nigeria Air Force such as the GS17, A29 Super Tucano Aircraft, the Diamond 62 aircraft; T129 Attack Helicopter, Multi-roller Fighter Aircraft, Beechcraft and unmanned aerial systems, and we have just commissioned two of those platforms that were purchased earlier by this administration.
“The Air Force has also reactivated several aircraft and it is worthy of note that the procurement process for military hardware has been reviewed to remove inefficiency and introduce transparency. For example, the procurement of the purchase of the four Super Tucano aircraft in 2018 was done through a transparent, first-of-its-kind government-to-government deal with the United States.
Represented by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari expressed delight that the huge investment in capacity development of the NAF has helped to turn the tide in the fight against terrorism, and violence by non-state actors in our nation.
“We must also commend the renewed focus on research and innovation of the Chief of the Staff. This is far-sighted and doing creative work in trying to strengthen our Air Force in various ways. It is also an important component in the development of our military for Nigeria and the armed forces in general.
“I am pleased to note that we are seeing an air force that is increasingly confident about its ability and its capability to innovate and deploy locally developed technology and this is manifesting in various ways from the locally developed operational unmanned aerial vehicle, which the president formally inducted into the service in February 2018, to this collaborative works being done at the Air Force Research and Development Centre, in Kaduna to produce the first-ever made-in-Nigeria aircraft.
“Of course, this must be situated within the general context of greater emphasis on local capacity building by the Nigerian Armed Forces, the development of establishment of the Nigerian Army University, and the revitalisation of the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) serving as testaments to those renewed emphasis”, he added.