Governor of Oyo state Seyi Makinde, has praised the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) for contributing to the enhancement of security in the state.
Speaking while playing host to the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshall Sadique Abubakar at the Government House Ibadan on Wednesday, the Governor said the 671 NAF detachment Ibadan had continued to discharge its duties professionally and maintain cordial relationship with its host communities.
The Air Chief was on an operational visit to Ibadan to consolidate NAF’s presence in the South-west geopolitical zone and asses facilities at the Air Force Comprehensive School (AFCS), Ibadan.
Makinde thanked the NAF leadership for expanding its facilities in South-west,
He said the state government was in the process of upgrading the facilities at the Ibadan Airport, adding that the runway would be expanded and refueling facilities emplaced to bring the Airport to international standards, thereby making it more economically viable for commercial air operations.
The governor disclosed that a contract had already been awarded for the construction of the Ife road that traverses Ajia to the Airport.
According to him, this will create access so that a new NAF Base could be built close to the Airport.
Makinde directed the State Ministry of Works to look into how to resolve the power connection problem at the AFCS Ibadan.
Speaking earlier, Air Marshall Abubakar, who was accompanied on the visit by the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Air Force, Abbas Adigun and senior NAF officers, said the NAF had expanded its organizational structure over the last 5 years, by creating two new Commands and two new staff branches, and has established several new units across the country.
He noted that the Service intends to further expand its presence in the South West Geopolitical Zone because, at present, it only had units in Lagos and Ipetu-Ijesha while the Unit in Ibadan was inadequate to meet the Air Power requirements of the Service for the Zone.
He added that the NAF intends to key into the Airport upgrade project to expand its presence in Ibadan by building a new Base along with necessary support facilities so as to have an alternate Base for the C-130H fleet to operate from.
“We are interested in keying into the Airport expansion plan so that we can have Ibadan as another base for the C-130H aircraft that we operate in Lagos so that when we have any problem, we don’t have to fly from Lagos”, he said.
While highlighting the state of infrastructure at the AFCS Ibadan, the Air Chief said the School had emerged as the overall best public secondary school in Nigeria in the last West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations. He noted that underscored the need to, as matter of priority, get the School connected to reliable mains power supply.
After inspecting facilities, including classrooms, medical centre, male and female students’ hostels as well as the dining halls at the AFCS Ibadan, Air Abubakar, who was conducted on the tour by the Commandant, Group Captain Babatunde Apoola, took time to interact with the teachers and other staff of the School.
He thanked them for their selfless service in building the capacity of the students and grooming them to consistently produce good results over the years. He noted that was clear evidence of their commitment to duty, despite the numerous challenges facing the School.
He said the Service would do its best to critically look at the issues raised on allowances of unestablished staff and the need to renovate the hostels and improve the condition of the dinning, amongst others.
