NAF chief tasks Air Force institute on weapons production

THE Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, yesterday tasked officers and men of Air force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Kaduna to develop more sophisticated military equipment for use in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency in the North East region of the country.

The Air force boss, who is also the Chairman, Governing Council of AFIT, spoke with journalists shortly after the 44th convocation ceremony of 400 students of the institute.

Abubakar, however, said that for the institute to achieve the feat, it must conduct research and development and take into serious consideration the security challenges in the North East.

According to him, “I think the institution is properly positioned to address some of the challenges the country is facing and I am sure that will impact positively in our effectiveness in dealing with the insurgents.

“AFIT has a mandate for conducting research, it has been doing well in terms of research and development and we have charged them to do more taking into cognizance the challenges we have in the North East. So, we are going to see what they have come up with; they developed and updated on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles known as Gulma some years ago. I am sure we will be able to see the Gulma updated flying again.

“All these efforts are geared towards addressing the problems that we have in the North East. The institute is also training our technical support personnel, which will be required to support the airplanes that are flying not only in the North East, but in other places like training institutes.”

Meanwhile, earlier in his address, the Commandant of AFIT, Air Commodore Misbau Soladoye, expressed satisfaction with the students’ academic performance, urging them to be ambassadors of the institute wherever they might find themselves.

Also in his speech, Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, who was the guest of honour at the occasion, pledged his assistance to uplift the standard of the institute during his tenure in office.