New air chief takes over, promises new tactics to fight insecurity

Hassan Bala Abubakar has assumed office as the new chief of air staff.

Oladayo Amao, immediate former chief of air staff, handed over the flag to Abubakar at an event on Thursday.

On Monday, President Bola Tinubu approved the immediate retirement of all service chiefs, including the inspector-general of police and appointed their successors.

Speaking after taking over from his predecessor, the new chief of air staff appreciated God for giving him the opportunity to lead the country’s air force “at this crucial time”.

Abubakar promised to reinvigorate NAF in the fight against terrorism, insurgency, banditry and other challenges facing the country.

He vowed to sustain the cooperation and joint efforts that existed between the air force and sister services during the previous administration.

“In conjunction with my colleagues, we will uphold these attributes in line with Mr President’s directive issued during the maiden national security council meeting,” he said.

“We shall also begin to make additional efforts and evolve measures and approaches that will continue to diminish our challenges and enhance the disposition of our various theatres of operations.”

In his valedictory speech, Amao said his administration achieved successes in areas like doctrinal development, air operations, human capacity development, fleet enhancement, establishment of new units, and directorates.

He asked the new CAS to ensure the optimal operational capacity of the air force to sustain and surpass the ongoing efforts at eradicating terrorism and banditry.

“In the areas of human capacity development, NAF has in the last two years trained and retrained personnel for professional and operational effectiveness,” he said.

“For instance, the Nigerian air force conducted training for a total of 7,424 personnel out of which 5,945 were trained locally and 1,140 were trained overseas.

“This number is also inclusive of the 429 pilots and 203 UAV operators. These efforts in particular reduced the acute shortage of combat pilots that we used to have in the past.”

Below are photos.