Nigerian Air Force Immortalizes Late Squadron Leader Baba-Ari

Nigerian Air Force Immortalizes Late Squadron Leader Baba-Ari

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) yesterday, 26 February 2019, commissioned and named another building after late Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) Muhammed Bello Baba-Ari, the NAF fighter pilot who died in an air mishap while participating in the aerial display rehearsals for the 58th Nigerian Independence Day Celebration. The new building, which is a block of six 3-bedroom flats for officers, is located at NAF Base Asokoro, Abuja. It was constructed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and furnished by the NAF.

Speaking during the event, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who was represented by the Chief of Administration, Headquarters NAF, Air Vice Marshal Kingsley Lar, stated that the current administration has been able to promote accommodation sufficiency from 45 per cent in 2015 to 70 per cent in 2019. The CAS noted that the 70 per cent accommodation sufficiency rate recorded within three and half years was achieved despite the fact that an unprecedented number of personnel, over 7,500 airmen/airwomen and 400 officers, had been recruited and enlisted respectively into the NAF within the period. He noted that efforts would be sustained to improve the level of accommodation sufficiency, as a way of motivating personnel to be more effective in the performance of their duties. He therefore thanked the MOD for contributing to NAF’s efforts at enhancing the welfare of its personnel. He also urged the beneficiaries to ensure that the accommodation is properly maintained.

Earlier in his remarks, the Commander 053 Headquarters NAF Camp, Air Commodore Abubakar Yusuf, thanked the CAS for always placing premium on the welfare of personnel. He noted that the CAS had executed several welfare-related projects in Abuja which had drastically reduced the accommodation challenges facing personnel.

It would be recalled that, as a mark of honour for the supreme price paid by Late Sqn Ldr Baba-Ari, the NAF, on 18 December 2018, named a newly commissioned Pilots’ Crew Room at the Headquarters Air Task Force (HQ ATF) Operation LAFIYA DOLE in Maiduguri after the late senior officer.