The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, has disclosed that the Nigeria Air Force (NAF), has trained 119 pilots from Liberia Air Force in support of the West African military.
He further disclosed that about 200 personnel were receiving training in nine different countries.
He disclosed this during the 2021 Budget defence before the Senate Committee on Air Force at the National Assembly, on Tuesday.
“We are expecting that these pilots would soon join their colleagues in the fight against insecurity,” he said.
He added that the series of training had greatly improved the efficiency of the NAF in covert operation.
The Naval Chief further revealed that the Nigerian Air Force is expecting delivery of 19 additional aircraft in the fight against insecurity in the North East.
“We are expecting 3 J-17 fighters from Pakistan, 12 super Tucano United States, one M-171 and 3 special mission aircraft from NIMASA.
“We are talking of about 19 additional aircraft,” he stressed.
On his part, a member of the committee, Senator Sani Musa (Niger East), said the Federal Government must rededicate resources and deploy technology to fight insurgency, complaining that N1 billion was meagre for serious training, research and development.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Bala Ibn N’Allah, said the panel would be willing to visit the North East for on-the-spot assessment of the region.
“The committee is willing and ready for two on-the-spot visits to the theatre (of terrorism) maybe Maiduguri and elsewhere, so that we can register formally our appreciation to the efforts of the Air Force to the challenges of insecurity.
“By this we will be able to demonstrate that there are different ways to give our lives as far as protecting the territorial integrity of the country.”
