Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, has called on the newly graduated Nigerian Air Force, NAF, pilots to see their flying certifications as a national duty, not just personal milestones.
He gave the charge yesterday at the combined graduation ceremony of Basic Transport Flying Course 5 and Ab-initio Student Pilot Course 49, held at 401 Flying Training School, FTS, in Kaduna.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Wapkerem Maigida, which was made available to Defence Correspondents in Abuja.
While addressing the 35 new pilots—comprising 10 graduates of the Basic Transport Course and 25 Ab-initio Student Pilots—Air Marshal Abubakar reminded them of the heavy responsibility they now bear.
According to the CAS, “In the Nigerian Air Force, we say that the quality of our training determines the strength of our operations, this is why, under my leadership, we are upgrading training institutions, inducting more aircrafts and evolving our doctrines to meet the demands of modern warfare.”
It added that Air Marshal Abubakar described the graduation as another milestone in the ongoing transformation of NAF into a more agile, resilient and technology-driven force.
The CAS commended 401 FTS for over four decades of excellence in pilot training, during which it had produced more than 700 pilots for the NAF, Nigerian Navy and other African countries, including Republic of Benin, Cape Verde, Niger, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone.
He reiterated NAF’s unwavering dedication to enhance professional capacity, improve personnel welfare and execute its constitutional mandate to safeguard Nigeria’s territorial integrity, while supporting national development.
