The Nigerian Air Force, NAF, said it has commenced the training of another batch of Special Force, SF, personnel to boost internal security operations in the country.
According to NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, the SF Course 5/2019 was inaugurated on Wednesday at the Regiment Training Centre RTC, Annex in Bauchi.
The course, which is the seventh by the current NAF administration, is however the first to be conducted at the newly established RTC Annex in Bauchi.
The NAF Director of Public Relations explained that Bauchi was chosen to enable the trainees acclimatise to the arid conditions prevalent in the North East, as well as decongest the RTC’s main training facility in Kaduna.
Graduates of the course would join the Special Force also known as “Panthers.”
The Air Officer Commanding Ground Training Command (AOC GTC), AVM Idi Amin, while inaugurating the course said the training was another NAF leadership effort in capacity building.
The training, he said demonstrated the realisation of the Chief of the Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar’s, vision of repositioning the NAF into a highly professional and disciplined force for effective, efficient and timely employment of air power in response to Nigeria’s national security imperatives.
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Amin said that the building of capacity of NAF SF was necessitated by the need to ensure the robust defence of NAF Bases and air assets.
“The robust capacity built has also enabled the Service to more effectively contribute to the protection of critical national assets, like our Airports, as well as provide support to sister Services and other security agencies in internal security operations across the country,” he added.
He said that SF capabilities hold great importance to military operations worldwide.
He said these units have continued to contribute significantly to security efforts at the various locations, working in synergy with personnel of other security agencies, to ensure the protection of lives and properties of Nigerians.
The Commandant RTC Annex Bauchi, Wing Commander Kehinde Akinyosade, thanked the CAS for convening the Course and for his tremendous strides in the areas of infrastructure development at the NAF Base Bauchi.
He said that the course curriculum entails intensive training in shooting skills, unarmed combat, navigation, field tactics, communications, endurance and swimming, amongst others.
