CAS describes veterans as encyclopedia of knowledge

 CAS describes veterans as encyclopedia of knowledge 

Lagos, Jan.4, 2025

The Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Abubakar Hasan on Saturday described veterans as an encyclopedia of knowledge that could still be used to effect positive changes in the society.

Hasan said this during a CAS parley with veterans which held at Logistics Command, NAF, Lagos State.

The Nigerian Air Force Secretary, AVM Ahmed Bakari represented the CAS at the event.

The CAS said that the NAF had created the Air Power Centre of Excellence where everything pertaining to airpower would be studied.

"The Air Power Centre of Excellence is supposed to be that melting point for serving officers and retired officers and men to bring their expertise and knowledge to bare.

"So, this is where we will need the expertise of our veterans. This will be the time they can start indicating where they can provide certain expertise regarding the centre.

"I am sure that once this initiative takes off fully, it will deepen the engagement we have with our veterans," he said.

Hasan said that the creation of the Directorate of Veteran Affairs, three years ago, had made a lot of impactful effort in the life of veterans.

"So, what we do right now has a strong implication on what is to come in the future.

"If we take care of ourselves, then we can be sure that the future will be better for us but if we do not take care of ourselves, nobody will want to associate with us," he said.

The CAS said that he created an accident policy to cater for injured personnel while in service.

He added that NAF had disbursed the first tranche of the policy and some personnel got benefits in the range of N5 million for injuries.

"Even though we know that this may not be totally sufficient but what is being sort is to see that they don't suffer unnecessarily when injured.

"At least, some form of succour comes immediately as an intervention from the service to any personnel who sustains an injury while in service," Hasan said.

The CAS said that the NAF had equally overhauled airfields and ensured that some of the airfields now had modern equipment that would make flying, 24 hours possible.

"For instance, the airfield in Kaduna, now has an Integrated Management System (IMS), the runway lights are working and this will be replicated in other air force base.

"We as the Nigerian Air Force should be able to conduct 24 hours operation," he said.

Hasan said that priority into Air Force schools would now be given to personnel and veterans before considering civilians.

"Some of us have been complaining that we have a lot of civilians in our schools but henceforth, priority is to personnel and veterans first, before considering others," he said.

The CAS added that he had increased the price of meals served NAF schools from N500 to N1,500 per meal for students to grow up strong and healthy.

Hasan said that in the past 18 months, NAF had taken delivery of 12 brand new platforms which had been injected into the war effort.

He said that the delivery of these platforms was made possible through the support of President Bola Tinubu.

"The NAF from 2025 to 2026 is hopefully going to gain the delivery of additional 50 platforms spanning fighter planes, transport planes and helicopters.

"We are sure that with the injection of these platforms, we will see more improvement in the fight against terrorism, insurgency, banditry and all forms of criminality.

"The efforts will be better poised to deliver its mandate and provide the required air power needed to prosecute any operation in our theatres of operation," he said.

The CAS said that NAF had equally embarked on predictive maintenance of their aircrafts which had begun to yield positive results on their different platforms.

"We no longer have to get to that state where an aircraft is totally grounded, the problem is spotted and is taken care of especially through our Research and Development efforts," Hasan said.