ByAyo Kehinde
Commanders listening with rapt attention and Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar delivering his address at the 2-Day Retreat held in Abuja
The Nigerian Air Force, NAF, has wound up a 2-day Commanders’ Retreat for Commanders from formations and units across the country with Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubarkar stating that the current war against insecurity in the country cannot be won without the involvement of the populace in intelligence gathering.
The retreat, which took place at the NAF Officers Mess and Suites Kado, Abuja on February 20 and 21 with the theme, “Enhancing Efficiency and Effectiveness of NAF Unit Commanders in Contemporary Security Environment,” was part of efforts to evolve strategies to meet the requirements of the ever-changing national security environment, according to Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramonla, Director of Public Relation of the force
Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubarkar, at the event restated the vision of his administration to develop human capacity towards ensuring the effective and efficient employment of air power in response to national security needs.
According to him, “the NAF is obligated to protect the sovereignty and sanctity of Nigeria as well as the lives and properties of the citizens and inhabitants.”
These objectives, he said, could only be achieved through a sound mind, renewed orientation and re-evaluation of one’s actions and inactions as a leader.
“It is also pertinent to remind ourselves of the contemporary asymmetric nature of warfare, which has defied the conventional battle. We must recognise that this war cannot be fought in isolation of the civil populace, hence the need to integrate and win the hearts and minds of the civilian populace towards gaining intelligence to further our missions and operations”, he added.
Air Marshal Abubarkar went further to charge the Commanders on the need for prudent management of resources.
According to him, in the midst of economic challenges, resources at the disposal of the NAF and its Commanders must be utilized prudently towards the attainment of set objectives.
He added that the current Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has zero tolerance for financial misappropriation. The CAS therefore charged the Commanders to keep abreast of the financial regulations as regards the use of public funds.
In his remarks, the Chief of Policy and Plans (COPP), Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Isiaka Amao, who earlier welcomed the Guest of Honour and other senior officers to the Retreat, charged the Commanders to deploy the knowledge gained in the current and previous retreats to function optimally.
“Moreover, the fluid nature of the contemporary security situation requires Commanders to be flexible in the discharge of command responsibilities of which shared ideas and experiences could greatly help, in the light of command challenges”, he added.
At the retreat AVM Gabriel Odesola retrd, AVM P C Able Retrd and AVM A A Zannah made presentations.
\While AVM Odesola spoke on “Understanding the Rudiments of Command Responsibility in an Asymmetric Environment”, supported by the Assistant Director Analysis Compliance from the National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). AVM Abel spoke on “Enhancing Civil-Military Relations – Commanders’ Role” and “Strategic Decision Making in Command Appointments – My Experience” supported by AVM Zannah.
The Commanders and prospective commanders availed themselves with out-of-the-book experiences from retired senior officers who held command appointments while in the service, while benefiting from shared experiences of various commanders on command responsibilities.
