Pembi David-Stephen
It is easy to consider the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), in terms of war and combat only. In the last couple of months, the force has shown that it can also win the war against poverty and inhumanity by showing its humane side and helping to lift many out of the dust and on their feet, especially in these trying times when many, faced with the Coronavirus, have lost forms of livelihood and cannot feed themselves when they should, how they should.
As the nation struggled under the weight of growing COVID-19 cases and many wondered how the nation would cope when faced by the wrath of the quick-spreading virus (especially after the ‘ugly’ ventilator saga with Elon Musk on Twitter) the NAF quickly moved and, within three weeks, unveiled 2 emergency ventilators produced by a team of researchers from the Air Force Research and Development Centre (AFRDC) and Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Kaduna, in partnership with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria and the Department of Megatronics, Federal University of Technology Minna. The emergency ventilators, tagged ‘NAF E-Vents’, were unveiled on 27 May 2020, by the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, in Kaduna.
Before it was unveiled, the prototype ventilators had been successfully tested on animal (both canine and porcine) subjects, to demonstrate the capacity of the ventilators to support recovery of patients with respiratory diseases, including acute lung Injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The tests were also necessary to validate the effectiveness of the ‘Assist Ventilation Mode’, where the ventilator detects a breath from a patient being treated and synchronises the equipment with the patient’s breathing.
On April 10, 2020, the NAF moved in to air-lift medical equipment and supplies donated by the Turkish Government to Nigeria from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja. The donated medical items – several boxes of equipment, medications and other supplies, weighing about 4,000kg – were airlifted by a NAF C-130 Hercules aircraft (NAF 917) and handed over by the NAF Aircrew to a representative of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for delivery to the central storage facility in Abuja. It may be recalled that the NAF, in furtherance of its constitutional role of providing military aid to civil authority (MACA), had earlier detailed an aircraft to airlift a team of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) health officials from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, where they had travelled to undergo a World Health Organization training programme on the management of COVID-19, but became stranded due to closure of air and land borders by the Government of Congo Brazzaville.
Furthermore, the NAF airlifted some healthcare professionals from the Irua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo State to Abuja and continues to avail its aircraft for the airlifting of relief materials, as well as officials of the Federal and State Ministries of Health and NCDC to enable them sustain their vital functions. It may also be recalled that the NAF had, on 24 March 2020, airlifted medical materials consisting of 107 boxes of medical supplies and equipment donated by the Jack Ma Foundation. Moreover, the NAF, through its Liquid Oxygen Plant at the 103 Strike Group, Yola, is also producing oxygen for distribution to isolation centres and designated hospitals across the country in support of the national response to the COVID-19 emergency.
As regards the safety of its personnel and their families, the NAF has taken elaborate steps to deal with the COVID-19 threat. Since the first confirmed case in Nigeria in February 2020, the Medical Branch of the Service has undertaken a comprehensive sensitisation campaign across all NAF units while emplacing necessary measures to prevent outbreak amongst personnel and their dependants. Awareness lectures on precautionary measures have been conducted, as well as the distribution of over 30,000 information, education and communication (IEC) materials on the disease to NAF units. In addition, some NAF medical doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have been mobilised as part of the 80 selected Armed Forces of Nigeria medical personnel deployed to support the Federal Government’s effort to deal with COVID-19 in Nigeria.
In addition to the sensitization and training, the NAF has emplaced series of preventive measures to ensure that personnel are adequately protected whilst performing their constitutional role of defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Nation. These measures include the disinfection of facilities as well as the production and distribution of large quantities of hand sanitizers by NAF medical units to personnel and their dependants, especially NAF troops on the frontlines. The Service has also installed hand washing facilities in all NAF units including Headquarters NAF Abuja, while all visitors and passengers boarding NAF aircraft are properly screened and the aircraft disinfected after every flight. Moreover, in order to ensure that NAF medical and emergency personnel get adequate protection against COVID-19, the NAF Investment Limited (NAFIL) Tailoring Workshop contacted relevant Government Agencies for the licensing of locally produced personal protective equipment (PPE) for use in NAF Hospitals.
Native communities of the Federal Capital Territory – Bassa, Sauka and Wulumo in Abuja Municipal Area Council and Ushafa, Nuwalege and Zamani in Bwari Area Council – were not left out. Over 550 families were given a reason to smile, as bags of beans, rice, semovita, instant noodles and condiments were given to different families for the up-keep.
Clearly, the distribution, done more from humane objectives than a need for show, had one message: eat, live healthy, observe a good personal hygiene regimen, keep your children and yourself safe.
The force has been known for its service to humanity and, while this outpour of human kindness is laudable, encouraging and heart-warming, it leaves no one in doubt that the force is truly willing, able and ready.
•David-Stephen writes from Abuja.