…Commissions project at NAF base Kaduna
From: Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, on Tuesday, thanked the National Assembly and President Muhammadu Buhari for the passage of Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Bill into law.
The bill, which was drafted to give technical training to the personnel of NAF and other services of Nigerian Armed Forces, Nigerians and citizens of other African countries, was assented to by President Buhari on the December 7.
By the signing of the Bill, the institute now achieves a university status and can now receive funds from tertiary education funds bodies, sell its technological breakthrough within and outside the country as well as building more structures to expand its current accommodation status.
Fielding questions from the newsmen shortly after the first governing board meeting of AFIT and commissioning of a block of a 220 capacity classroom inside NAF base Kaduna, Marshal Abubakar was optimistic that the new status of the institute would improve its efficiency and capacity of Armed Forces in terms of technological advancements.
To him, “This means a lot not only to the NAF but to other Armed Forces and the country as a whole because AFIT is not training only the NAF personnel. With the passage of the bill into law, it means the institute is going to have more funds available to it to advance in its technological drive.
“There are civilians within and even from outside the country that are already benefiting from the institute and that means the country is really making effort at improving on its technological know-how.
“Like I said earlier, the institute will add value to national territorial integrity. It will help to have good training and research. The more you improve on your laboratories, the better equipped you are in term of capacity building of both uniform men and civilians. This means a lot to us.
“We are really delighted and we want to thank the National Assembly and Mr. President for given the institute this new status. This means greater responsibility and we will always do our best to protect the country and its citizens,” he stated.
He then proceeded to the venue of the maiden inter-command drill competition holding at Military Training Centre (MTC) parade ground, NAF base, Kaduna as special guest honour.