By Correspondent in Abuja
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Wednesday, say they have strenghetened existing partnership with the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPN), on rules and regulations guiding safety operations.
The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, who said this when the President of the institute, Dr Malgwi Haruna paid him a courtesy visit at NAF headquarters, Abuja noted that no better time for such partnership, than now that the country was facing security challenges.
Abubakar said the service was very delighted with the kind of partnership that existed between the institutions in the past, particularly with NAF Safety Institute.
He commended the institute for all it had been doing, espcially in area of promoting safety across the country.
“As a highly technical service, NAF is very concern about safety in all its operations, especially air operations/safety. This mainly informed the establishment of NAF Safety Institute .
“Initially located in Ipetu-Ijesha, but due to difficulty in assessing the area, it was later relocated to a more acceessible area that also served as a Training Group for personnel,”he said.
CAS, however, appealed to the institute to immediately identify areas of additional partnership with the service.
“So, this partnership is something we are very muchinterested in. I want to see how we can immediately move forward in area of safety in operations.
“The Safety/Evaluation Branch of NAF will come up with the framework of interaction with the institute at NAF headquarters to identify more areas of partnership.
“This is also to identify areas that were not captured before to be captured for effective and efficient service delivery,”CAS added.
Abubakar revealed that the service had quite a number of officers training in different parts of the world, such as India, Pakisyan, UK, U.S.A. among others on safety, adding that it would be nice if such training could be conducted in the country, rather than going through the pains of taken personnel outside the country for such exercise.
“I believe the institute has all it takes to do same here in the country without necessarily going abroad for such training.
“We will also partner with you for more safety all over the country. For us, safety is very important, that is why we want to take the partnership on a much higher level,”according to Abubakr.
CAS, therefore, urged all the personnel in the service, whether a pilot or a non-pilot, to register with the institute as a member.
CAS said that security was everybody’s business, adding that the institute being part of the collective security responsibility should make sure the service operations were safe.
He promised to invite the institute, from time to time, to evaluate the safety standard of the service aircraft and how to go about their safety for effective and efficient service delivery.
Earlier Haruna, who said the purpose of the visit was to strengthen the existing partnership with NAF on safety operations. said the institute acknowledged the sacrifices the service had been making for the §afety of the country as well as its citizens.
“We are quite aware of the efforts of the service, especially in the fight against the insurgency and other criminal activities across the country.
“So far, the service has lived up to its expectations by safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country, beng its core mandate, “he said.
The president said the purpose of the visit was to also organise and provide training on operational safety to NAF personnel.
He, therefore, urged NAF personnel to register with the institute for more insight on safety rules while discharging their responsibilities.
Haruna also urged both serving and retired officers of the service to register with the ìnstitute, adding that safety was key in all human endeavours.
