Govt orders Air Force to patrol borders
BEYOND their regular duties, officers of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) are henceforth, to begin the patrol of the nation’s borders.
The directive of the Federal Government was disclosed yesterday at a retreat to commanders and directors of NAF by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar.
He said the new mandate was part of the government’s efforts at ensuring effective policing and tackling of the worrisome insecurity in the country.
Umar also said because of the prevailing security challenges, all NAF operational bases are now used for internal security duties with an average of 65 per cent serviceability status of current aircraft holding flying.
He explained that NAF would soon deploy its aircraft in Mali as soon as the directive was received, adding that, “because of the prevailing security situation, the Air Force is used within and outside the country. This is because Nigeria has a lot of responsibilities in Darfur (Sudan), Guinea Bissau and very soon in Mali. We are gearing up to get more aircraft serviceable to confront these challenges.”
The task of air border patrol is currently being handled by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) through its air patrol division.
In 1988, Nigeria set up an Air Border Patrol Unit (ABPU), which was equipped with five state-of-the-art Dornier 228 planes with radar equipment.
The crew members were trained to the highest standards possible in France, Switzerland and Sweden. But the unit soon faced the problem of aircraft serviceability and its aircraft were mothballed.
Air Marshal Umar told the Air Force commanders and directors that the duties of air border patrol, “including our involvement in internal security operations across the country necessitated thorough planning and coordination of operational and logistics as well as administration in order to execute assigned tasks in the most effective manner.”
He added that the essence of the training is “to have a feedback system for assessing and reassessing performance indicators. We have to work assiduously to ensure that we do not leave anything to chance. We will look at the way we are operating and how we can go in improving our operational capabilities and readiness.”
Umar stated that following government’s assessment of the operations of the air border patrol operations, it felt that the Air Force would handle the challenge better.
Although, the government has not transferred the assets of the air border patrol to the NAF, Umar said the service was preparing its aircraft before the actual handing over of the assets and responsibilities to it.
“We are absolutely ready to carry out any task the nation wants us to take. All we require now is the directive. Once we get the order, we will commence operations with whatever resources we have. And of course, we will be informing the government regularly on what we will require to do the job better.”
Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal Ishaq Umar, said the training was aimed at addressing flaws noticed in the course of commanders and directors carrying out their responsibilities.
He identified such lapses as “failure to exercise disciplinary powers, not knowing what to do in the event of accident, poor crew selection, ignorance of procedure, flagrant disrespect for authority or neglect/inappropriate response to Headquarters, NAF directives and improper logistics managerial function.”
The directive of the Federal Government was disclosed yesterday at a retreat to commanders and directors of NAF by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar.
He said the new mandate was part of the government’s efforts at ensuring effective policing and tackling of the worrisome insecurity in the country.
Umar also said because of the prevailing security challenges, all NAF operational bases are now used for internal security duties with an average of 65 per cent serviceability status of current aircraft holding flying.
He explained that NAF would soon deploy its aircraft in Mali as soon as the directive was received, adding that, “because of the prevailing security situation, the Air Force is used within and outside the country. This is because Nigeria has a lot of responsibilities in Darfur (Sudan), Guinea Bissau and very soon in Mali. We are gearing up to get more aircraft serviceable to confront these challenges.”
The task of air border patrol is currently being handled by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) through its air patrol division.
In 1988, Nigeria set up an Air Border Patrol Unit (ABPU), which was equipped with five state-of-the-art Dornier 228 planes with radar equipment.
The crew members were trained to the highest standards possible in France, Switzerland and Sweden. But the unit soon faced the problem of aircraft serviceability and its aircraft were mothballed.
Air Marshal Umar told the Air Force commanders and directors that the duties of air border patrol, “including our involvement in internal security operations across the country necessitated thorough planning and coordination of operational and logistics as well as administration in order to execute assigned tasks in the most effective manner.”
He added that the essence of the training is “to have a feedback system for assessing and reassessing performance indicators. We have to work assiduously to ensure that we do not leave anything to chance. We will look at the way we are operating and how we can go in improving our operational capabilities and readiness.”
Umar stated that following government’s assessment of the operations of the air border patrol operations, it felt that the Air Force would handle the challenge better.
Although, the government has not transferred the assets of the air border patrol to the NAF, Umar said the service was preparing its aircraft before the actual handing over of the assets and responsibilities to it.
“We are absolutely ready to carry out any task the nation wants us to take. All we require now is the directive. Once we get the order, we will commence operations with whatever resources we have. And of course, we will be informing the government regularly on what we will require to do the job better.”
Chief of Training and Operations, Air Vice Marshal Ishaq Umar, said the training was aimed at addressing flaws noticed in the course of commanders and directors carrying out their responsibilities.
He identified such lapses as “failure to exercise disciplinary powers, not knowing what to do in the event of accident, poor crew selection, ignorance of procedure, flagrant disrespect for authority or neglect/inappropriate response to Headquarters, NAF directives and improper logistics managerial function.”
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