Sustaining anti-terrorism war in N’East expensive, says Air Force chief

To prosecute the anti-insurgency fight in the North East, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) consumes 1.9 million litres of fuel monthly on the average.

Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, made the disclosure yesterday at the opening of NAF logistics seminar, ‘repositioning NAF logistics for efficient employment of air power in response to contemporary national security imperatives’ in Lagos.

According to Abubakar, the Air Force has managed to continue its operations nationwide amid scarcity of aviation fuel solely based on patriotism.

“To support air operations in the North East, NAF must put an excellent plan that will ensure availability of aviation fuel in the operational area, whether the product is locally available or not. The service consumes an average of 1.9 million litres of aviation fuel monthly.

“The main fighter air plane we use, consumes 2500 litres/hour and we fly at least two airplanes at a time. At that consumption rate, the two consume 5000 litres every hour and we run two missions. So we are talking of about 10,000 litres. We have so many other airplanes like the Alpha jets which consume 2,400 litres/hour. They also fly in formation and that means about 4,800 litres. There are other airplanes that fly on a daily basis. Our desire is to ensure that no territory of Nigeria is under any threat.

To achieve that, we must have sound logistics strategy to ensure that materials and spare parts are available.

“Our logisticians, therefore, must work assiduously to ensure the product is available for operation. In a war situation, no excuse is acceptable. To ensure we build capacity in logistics planning, NAF has embarked on training and retraining within and outside Nigeria.”

According to Abubabakar, the seminar was apt, considering the prevailing security situation which requires discipline and detailed planning.

The Minister of Defence, Gen. Muhammad Dan-Ali (rtd), assured that more hostages would be rescued, commending security personnel for their sacrifices towards keeping the nation as a united entity.

The AOC, Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal Sani Ahmed, lauded the Air Force chief for his efforts at enhancing facilities and infrastructure.