The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been commended for its efforts at harnessing the available research and development potentials, especially in the military aviation sector.
The commendation was made Saturday by vice president Yemi Osinbajo during the NAF Research and Development (R&D) competition/exhibition held at the Eagle Square in Abuja as part of activities slated to commemorate Nigerian Air force 55th anniversary celebration.
The vice president who was represented Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, disclosed that the event was an indication that the Armed Forces were aspiring to leave their footprints on the global stage.
While assuring of the federal government’s continued support to the Armed forces, the vice president said “it was now more important than ever before to look inward with a view to gradually weaning the nation of overdependence on foreign technology and becoming more innovative in the use of local resources.”
He lauded the great strides attained in recent times by the NAF, especially the induction of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle nicknamed ‘TSAIGUMI’ as well as the efforts, in collaboration with other partners, to produce the first ever made in Nigeria aircraft.
In his address, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar said the Service placed emphasis on R&D as a means of building indigenous technological capacity.
He said: “NAF R&D competition/exhibition was organized to motivate innovators and research outfits to explore the possibilities of identifying areas of potential partnership with the NAF in order to strengthen Nigeria’s technological base as a veritable tool for national development.
“The NAF strategy was in line with the focus of the federal government which prioritises the promotion of local content, homegrown technology and innovation as principal means of improving the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Chief of Standards and Evaluation, Headquarters NAF, Air vice Marshal (AVM) Remigus Ekeh, noted that R&D had assumed new dimension in the NAF, under the leadership of Air Marshal Abubakar.
He said “by encouraging out-of-the box thinking and innovative approaches to issues, a lot of solutions to operational challenges in the NAF have been locally developed through R&D, thereby saving huge resources”.
The highlight of the R&D competition/exhibition was the inspection of project stands by the SGF and other dignitaries present at the occasion.
Six NAF Commands and nine institutions participated in the R&D competition/exhibition.
In the same vein, an anniversary lecture was held at the NAF Officers’ Mess and Suites, Kado, Abuja. The topic of the Lecture was “Air to Ground Integration in the Armed Forces of Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects”. The lecture was delivered by AVM Christian Chukwu (retired).
