The newly-appointed Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Hassan Abubakar, has approved the redeployment of 98 senior officers in the service.
Prominent among the new appointees are Branch Chiefs, Air Officers Commanding, Commandants of Tri-Service Establishments, and NAF institutions.
The newly appointed senior officers are expected to assume office on Monday, July 3, 2023.
According to a statement on Monday by the spokesperson for the service, Air Commodore Ayodele Famuyiwa, the newly-reappointed senior officers comprise 52 AVMs and 46 Air Commodores, among whom are the former Commandant Air Force War College, AVM Abraham Adole, now the Chief of Defence Policy and Plans at the Defence Headquarters; while AVM Nkem Aguiyi takes over as the Chief of Defence Transformation and Innovation at the DHQ; and AVM Ahmed Shinkafi becomes the Chief of Defence Space Administration.
At the headquarters, the Nigerian Air Force, former AOC, Ground Training Command, AVM Sayo Olatunde, is now the Chief of Policy and Plans; AVM Ibikunle Daramola remains the Chief of Communications Information Systems; AVM Pius Oahimire was appointed the Chief of Aircraft Engineering HQ NAF; while AVM Uchechi Nwagwu takes over as the Chief of Accounts and Budget, among others.
Meanwhile, newly appointed service chiefs have promised to respect human rights while discharging their constitutional mandates.
This is as they promised to rid the country of the insecurity bedeviling it.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Christopher Musa, stated this on behalf of other service chiefs when they visited the Ministry of Defence in Abuja on Monday.
The military had been accused of violating human rights during its operations in many parts of the country.
However, Musa said the Armed Forces under his watch would go about their duties professionally with respect for human rights.
He urged the citizens to see the Armed Forces as theirs.
Musa said, “To the civilians, the Armed forces are for you and we will do whatever it takes to ensure Nigeria thrives. We are committed to what we have been tasked to do. While doing this, we are going to respect human rights, we can assure you that we are going to be very professional in our approach. We assure you all that we are here and we are committed to ensuring that we achieve the mandate of the President. “
Musa also promised that the service chiefs would bring about the peace that children would be proud of.
He said, “We want Nigeria to be peaceful.
We grew up when Nigeria was peaceful and we know what it looks like and we want to ensure that our children will be proud of the country during our time.”
The Permanent Secretary, of the Ministry of Defence, Ibrahim Kana, said as part of the efforts to reform the military, the immediate-past government approved the establishment of Octagon, similar to Pentagon in the US.
Kana said, “You know in America, we have the Pentagon. In Nigeria, our leaders that came together chose Octagon, a situation where civilians and military work hand in hand to see to the provision of security to the nation.”
