CIMICO Commends Nigerian Air Force’s Community-Centric Approach and Commitment To Civil-Military Engagement

CIMICO Commends Nigerian Air Force’s Community-Centric Approach and Commitment To Civil-Military Engagement

In furtherance of efforts to strengthen Civil–Military Relations (CMR) through sustained stakeholder engagement, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) recently hosted the Chairperson and Coordinator of Civil Military Cooperation (CIMICO), Dr Adams Otakwu, and his delegation at the NAF Headquarters. The engagement provided a platform for robust and constructive dialogue aimed at enhancing mutual understanding, promoting transparency, and fostering enduring partnerships between the NAF and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) across the country.

Speaking during the visit, Dr Otakwu commended the NAF for its openness to dialogue and its increasingly community-centric posture, particularly through the implementation of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Special Intervention Projects as well as Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Strategies. He underscored the value of structured civil–military interfaces in demystifying military operations, strengthening humanitarian outreach, and collaboratively addressing security challenges. According to him, the engagement marked a positive trajectory in CMR approaches and offered optimism for building a sustainable cooperation framework to enhance security communication, conflict prevention, community resilience, and civilian harm mitigation and response.

Responding on behalf of the CAS, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, the Chief of Civil–Military Relations, Air Vice Marshal Edward Gabkwet, expressed appreciation to Dr Otakwu and his delegation for their steadfast support of the NAF. He reaffirmed the CAS’s commitment to CMR as a cornerstone of NAF operations, noting that public trust, cooperation with civil authorities, intelligence sharing, and access to airspace are critical enablers of operational effectiveness, security, and mission acceptance. He further emphasized the pivotal role of civil society as a bridge to the civilian populace in promoting peace, security, and national development. The engagement concluded with a review of planned activities for the year, including the participation of civil society representatives in specialized trainings and expanded stakeholder engagements, as both parties expressed readiness to institutionalize regular consultations and explore actionable areas of partnership in line with the NAF’s constitutional mandate and civil society’s grassroots responsibilities.