By Musa Umar Bologi
Abuja
Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said it has graduated the first set of Super Mushshak Instructor Pilots.
NAF spokesperson, Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa said in a statement that the successful conversion of these pilots would enhance pilot training, which would in turn impact positively on operational effectiveness of the NAF especially in the fight against insurgency and other criminalities in the country.
He said the feat was also in line with the renewed efforts of Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, to reposition the Nigerian Air Force into a highly professional force through capacity building initiatives.
Group Captain Famuyiwa also said the feat would also boost the training of young pilots, “as 30 officers have already been selected to commence training with the newly trained Instructor Pilots.”
He said: “The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar who presented certificates to the graduating Instructor Pilots stated that training has remained a major means of transformation over the ages.
“According to him, the importance of training informed the choice of ‘human capacity development through robust and result oriented training for enhanced professional performance’ as the first key driver to the attainment of his vision for the Nigerian Air Force.”
Nigerian Air Force had inducted the Super Mushshak aircraft into the NAF inventory on late last year to address the challenge of training pilots.
“The graduation marked the final takeover of the aircraft as Nigerian pilots can now fly and train other ab initio student pilots,” he said.
