The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), on Sartuday in Kaduna graduated 460 personnel on sundry military courses aimed at reinvigorating manpower to man the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) platforms.
The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, said it was through the sundry programmes that the institute enhanced the quality of skilled technical manpower of the NAF.
He noted that the sundry military programmes had largely contributed to NAF’s current status of being largely self-reliant and almost completely dependent on own personnel for platforms and equipment maintenance.
According to him, the prestige and confidence gained from such self-reliance, made the NAF to also build internal capacity for certain levels of training.
Amao said that consequently, they had eliminated needless foreign training for NAF personnel in the areas they possessed internal capacities.
He noted that while they trained NAF personnel to meet the technical manpower requirements of the service, there was a significant paradigm shift in AFIT.
“This is because of the Institution’s increasing focus on practical
aspects of training, instead of the predominantly theoretical training that was hitherto the case.
“This was made possible by the recent change in the curricula of these sundry courses pursuant to deliberately bridging the gap between theory and practice,”he said.
The CAS urged the personnel to continue honing their acquired skills by constantly practising and engaging in maintenance activities to complement classroom instructions, with a view to building their various professional competences.
“Such professional competences are necessary to guarantee optimum aircraft serviceability and availability in furtherance of our national security imperatives.
“This is more so at a time like this when we need to operate optimally, to effectively address the current spate of insecurity across our dear country,”he said.
He thanked President Buhari for supporting the service with their needs, noting that it had contributed immensely to their operational successes.
Earlier, the Commandant of AFIT, AVM Muhammad Yakubu, said in spite of increase in the Institute’s mandate, it did not loose focus on its primary role of producing quality technical manpower for NAF.
He said it had reactivated many of the machines which included universal milling machine, lathe machine, magnetic surface grinding machine and many others.
Yakubu added that NAF also completely reactivated the electroplating line at the material science and metallurgical workshop which had been unserviceable for over 25 years.
He further said the institute’s main Aerospace Engineering Technology Department hangar had also been recently reroofed to eliminate the hitherto profuse leakage of rainwater and preserve the sensitive training equipment and offices in the
hanger.
He said the hangar was constructed by Dornier company in the 1980s and underwent remedial repairs carried out on the worse affected spots of the roofing over the years.
He said the repairs were, however, inadequate, thereby necessitating the complete reroofing and repainting of the hangar.
“The Alpha-Jet aircraft landing gear training simulator, located within the hangar, has also been repaired and the simulator area properly demarcated to prevent unauthorised access, to extend its service life,” Yakubu said.
He also mentioned other critical projects and programmes carried out in the Institute to include their nomination to benefit from Wireless Internet Cloud project implemented by Nigerian Communication Commission.
Yakubu urged the graduands to continue being good ambassadors of the institute by demonstrating competence, dedication and common sense.
He thanked the CAS for his support to the institute, while seeking for more interventions, especially regarding more accommodation for staff, officers and air men and women.
High point of the event was award presentation to officers, Air Men and Women who distinguished themselves in their various courses.
The graduands comprised 22 officers and 438 Air Men and Air Women.(NAN)
DISCLAIMER
The OPINION / COLUMN is authored by independent contributors to the National Accord Newspaper. While contributors adhere to our editorial guidelines, they are not employed by the National Accord Newspaper. The perspectives and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the National Accord Newspaper or its staff.
Leave a Reply