Governor of Niger expresses sympathy to NAF following chopper crash

Niger’s governor, Muhammed Bago, has expressed sympathy to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) over the tragic Monday accident involving a NAF helicopter that was on an evacuation mission in the state.

When Bago met Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), on Tuesday in Abuja, he conveyed his condolences.

Additionally, he expressed sympathy to the Nigerian Army and the whole armed forces for the deaths of some soldiers who were killed in an ambush while participating in a clearance operation in the Wushishi region of the state.

He said that the chopper crash in the Shinoro mountains occurred during an evacuation of some soldiers who had been ambushed and killed by militants.

The governor expressed gratitude to the air force for helping the people of Niger State combat insurgency and banditry.

“Don’t be exhausted, and thank you very much for everything you’ve been doing, I want to say.

“Your use of both fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been highly effective and has aided both the ground forces and our own neighbourhood watch group.

Please also beg that we need more as Oliver twists.

I’m here to inform you that Minna Airport was built to serve as a backup to Abuja Airport and that it has one of Nigeria’s longest runways.

He remarked, “Instead of flying from either Kainji or Kaduna, we are pleading with you to send some detachments and some fighter planes to Mina, so that we can have more swift answers from where they are very close.

Bago pledged to give the air force more assistance in the areas of information exchange and accommodations so they could carry out their assigned responsibilities successfully.

He claimed there was a symbiotic link between the primary protagonists, the Fulani herders and the miners, and that the government was working to solve the underlying causes of the security issues in the state.

He said that by establishing the Ministry for Nomadic and Pastoral Affairs to examine their operations, the new administration had made an effort to include Fulani in governance.

In response, the air chief expressed his gratitude to the state’s leadership for their years of assistance and collaboration with the Nigerian Air Force.

Abubakar claimed that the air force was well aware of the security concerns posed by banditry, insurgency, and other security issues in Niger State and other North West states.

He claimed that these issues have affected or now threaten the public’s safety, security, and wellbeing.

He gave the governor his word that the NAF and the entire armed forces would continue to be devoted, determined, and undeterred in their efforts to end the security threats posed by non-state actors.

According to Abubakar, the air force has kept up its commitment to using air power to dissuade criminal activity in Niger and the North West area as a whole.

“At this point, our strategy is to step up our efforts in coordination with the land troops in order to fully eliminate all of these criminal elements or, at the very least, drastically reduce their combat effectiveness.

This goes along with his command philosophy, which is to “make the Nigerian Air Force an agile and resilient force capable of meeting all the air power demands of national security in all operational environments,” he stated.

He claimed that despite the passion, dedication, and efforts made to eliminate the security challenges, NAF was still concerned about a few issues.

One of them, according to him, was Monday’s plane tragedy.

“The reality is that mishaps and accidents will occur as long as we operate and fly aeroplanes.

In actuality, there is a clear correlation between the rates of operations and the number of occurrences and accidents.

You’ve probably also seen that we’ve added quite a few platforms to the Nigerian Air Force during the last few years—let’s say, five to seven years.

He claims that force flying activity rates have greatly increased.

Therefore, there is a noticeable change as compared to 20 years ago, and sometimes this has its own issues.

Accordingly, he explained, “as long as we fly, we will encounter some of these challenges. We hope they don’t, but when they do, we accept it and move on.”

The air chief declared that in any operational setting, NAF under his direction would strive for zero incidence and zero accidents.

He claims that numerous steps are being implemented to check it, including operational risk management protocols and the adoption of safety management systems across all operations.

He concurred with the governor that conducting business out of Minna would enhance productivity and efficiency, speed up response times, and decrease time over target.

The CAS stressed the necessity for enhanced non-kinetic government participation, saying that kinetic measures could only address 20% to 30% of the internal security challenges.

He contends that a total government strategy is the only way to address the remaining 70 to 75 percent.

So, while we are stepping up our kinetic efforts, it is crucial that the government adopt a whole-of-government strategy to handle these issues so that they are ultimately fully eliminated.

The “whole of government approach” does deal with good governance, offering healthcare, employment chances, economic opportunities, and other things of the sort.

As we work together to rid our country of the dangers presented by these people’s adversaries, I also want to take this chance to ask for the help of all Nigerians, especially in the area of information sharing.

The sooner we understand this and work together to combat terrorism and other security concerns, the better for our country, he said. “Security remains the responsibility of all Nigerians,” he added. (NAN)