CITING capacity building and innovation as its inspiration, the Nigeria Air Force on Tuesday entered into joint agreement with the Federal University of Technology, Akure and another organization known as the Digital Bridge Institute.
Speaking at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding in Federal Capital City Abuja, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, said that the agreement would make the Air Force imbibe a habit of innovation.
“It is very essential for us to collaborate to manufacture machines that will be of use to us because no organisation can build an airplane alone,” Air Marshal Badeh said.
“We want to go into collaboration with various people in whatever we are building. We go to where people have skills and tap from them and they tap from us too.
“We must collaborate to keep the country moving,’’ he added
In his remarks, AVM Sadiq Abubakar, the Chief of Standard and Evaluation, NAF, said that with the signing of the MoU, NAF stood to benefit from the wealth of experience and expertise of the two organisations.
Abubakar said the CAS had approved monies for the execution of many projects.
“We shall soon embark on comprehensive data collection on areas of concern with regards to enhancing our operational platforms and this will guide our research and development efforts.’’
In his address, the Director, Research and Development of NAF, Air Commodore Isaac Odun-Ayo, said the plan to sign an MoU with research agencies and tertiary institutions was expected to provide a pool of competencies.
According to him, the idea is to “afford NAF the benefit of inviting persons from these institutions based on their areas of strength to assist in various aspects of research and development in the NAF.
“If NAF is to apply innovative technology as stated in the Chief of Air Staff vision, the technology must first be acquired.
“It should not be surprising therefore that NAF is signing an MoU with FUTA and the Digital Bridge Institute, Abuja, as these are key players that are vital to the realisation of the quest for technological development.’’
In his remarks, Vice Chancellor of FUTA, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola, said that the agreement was to foster a culture of indigenous innovation.
“The MoU is an effort toward the indigenization of our intellectual properties.
“We have a lot of human resources in this country and the vision of the Chief of Air Staff is praiseworthy.’’
Meanwhile, Badeh, while inspecting NAF facilities in Abuja, faulted a report that claimed that the Nigeria Air Force had only one aircraft.
He said the force has no fewer than 16 aircraft that are all being used for military operations both within and outside the country.
“We have up to 16 aircraft in Nigeria. If somebody said we have only one aircraft, what of the aircraft that is being used by the Army, are they not aeroplanes?
“What of the ones flying everywhere chasing Boko Haram members in the country? Are they not aeroplanes? There are some in various stages of repairs.
“You have the regular maintenance and there is one that is available for training and there are three undergoing 300 and 600 hours inspection and these are inspections that don’t take too long.’’
The air chief said he was satisfied with what he met on ground as the essence of the tour was to know where to improve on the facilities and how to go about it.
He said his major concern now was how to solve the problem of accommodation for NAF personnel.