Former Chief of Air Staff, Adesola Amosu
Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), on Friday, (NAF), vowed that the Nigerian Air Force would not allow Boko Haram, or any other terrorist groups anywhere, to undermine the sovereignty of Nigeria.
The Air Chief was speaking in Abuja, at the 2021 budget defence session by the House of Representatives Committee on Air Force, against the backdrop of huge budgetary appropriation and releases that government has continued to make to the Service yearly.
Air Marshal Abubakar in his 2020 budget performance presentation told the committee that out of the N136.4 billion approved for the Service in 2020, the federal government has released 97 percent as at the time of the presentation of the budget performance report.
Air Marshal Abubakar disclosed that the NAF has acquired 22 new air craft and established new Units as well as expansion of some existing Units of the NAF in certain states, amongst other capital projects executed by the Service.The Air Chief said although the war has been challenging, the Service was encouraged to do all that must be done to justify the huge funds consistently made available by government to the NAF.
Presenting the NAF’s 2021 budget estimates of over N142 bilkion, the CAS said that the budget capital of 2021 was tailored to acquire new platforms and weapons for the Service.
He hinted that while about N17.6 billion of the capital would take care of aircraft, N150 million was for small arms and ammunition, and N566.8 million for air craft spares amongst others.
The Air Chief said that the Service needed N2.5 billion in the budget to upgrade its barracks, most of which would be done through direct labour.
He disclosed the Service would mobilize its engineers to handle the work by direct labour, to save government the costs of having to pay more for contractors to execute the works.
In approving the 2020 budget performance report of the NAF, members of the Air Force Committee commended the efforts of the Service asking that the 2021 budget estimates be approved with some amendment.
Hon. Shehu Koko, Chairman of the Committee commended government for making almost 100 percent releases to the Air Force, noting that this was done knowing the sensitive nature of the jobs the Service was presently handling.
In his own presentation of the over N2 billion estimates for the 2021 budget, Air Vice Marshal Abdulganiu Olabisi, Commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology, (AFIT), asked for increased provision to the budget capitals of the school, to enable it complete the access road and build hostels for the students.
No comments:
Post a Comment