Chief Of Air Staff Seeks Collaboration With Universities To Improve Aircraft Maintenance Capability As He Commissions New Hostel

Chief Of Air Staff Seeks Collaboration With Universities To Improve Aircraft Maintenance Capability As He Commissions New Hostel

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, on 9 January 2018, commissioned a newly built block of boys’ hostel at Air Force Comprehensive School (AFCS) Uyo. The befitting new hostel, which was designed and constructed by engineers of the NAF Directorate of Works, is dedicated for the comfort of SS3 students. The new hostel is thus expected to be a source of motivation for the junior students to work hard to get to SS3 Class. In his remarks at the commissioning ceremony, the CAS commended the staff and students of AFCS Uyo for the exemplary and impressive record they had shown over the years in the Senior Secondary School Examination (SSSE) results as well as other external examinations and competitions. Air Marshal Abubakar also recognized that the efforts of the NAF in improving the quality of education in all its schools could not have been possible without the unflinching support of President Muhammadu Buhari. “We are immensely grateful to Mr President for providing the resources and enabling environment for the NAF to effectively deliver on its constitutional roles”, he said.

While commissioning the hostel, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State observed that the quality of the hostel competes favourably with hostels of old in Nigeria’s premier universities. He therefore congratulated the CAS on the quality of work done and for improving on the facilities available in the School. He particularly commended the performance of the School in the last SSSE during which nearly 100 per cent of the students had credits in a minimum of 5 subjects, including Mathematics and English Language. He then promised that the State Government would support the NAF’s efforts by completing the building of a block of staff quarters, which it had earlier embarked upon. It is noteworthy that many of the students in the School are indigenes of Akwa Ibom State.

While receiving the CAS, who later paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Governor Emmanuel requested for the establishment of a NAF Base in Uyo towards enhancing security in the State. He stated the readiness of the State to support such a base with the modern aviation facilities available at the Akwa Ibom International Airport Uyo. Speaking earlier, Air Marshal Abubakar expressed the desire of the NAF to partner with the 2 universities in Akwa Ibom State in the area of Research and Development towards further improving the aircraft maintenance capability of the NAF. He added that similar partnerships with other Nigerian universities had already revealed the abundance of talents as a result of which the NAF was able to resolve some aircraft maintenance related challenges. The CAS then announced that a team of NAF officers from the Air Force Research and Development Centre would soon visit the 2 universities in the State in respect of the planned collaboration. In response to the Governor’s request for the establishment of a NAF Base in Uyo, Air Marshal Abubakar stated that due consideration would be given to the request.

Governor Udom Emmanuel later hosted the CAS and his team of senior NAF officers to a gala night at the Government House Banquet Hall. Immediately after the visit to Uyo, the CAS and his entourage proceeded on an operational tour of the NAF Base in Calabar.