The Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, (NAF) Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, in this interview with Assistant Editor, Blessing Olaifa, talks about some issues regarding the humanitarian activities of the Air Force in the Northeast and the challenges of routing out remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists. Excerpts:
WHAT can you tell us about the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) humanitarian intervention in the Northeast?
Thank you for coming to seek some clarifications on what the Nigerian Air Force is doing in the northeast especially in the area of humanitarian intervention. I will like to start by stating that it is not just starting now, one of the first step we took was as far back as 2015 when we established the first camp, the first hospital in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp. And also in 2016, we established another one. So within this period, one was in Bama and another one was in Dalori, Borno State. These were the emergency hospitals in the IDP Camps. This has always being an integral part of our operations.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, is very passionate about the plight of IDPs. We believe that it is not enough to just go to the northeast and focus only on military campaigns. We believe that beyond that we should be able to touch the lives of the IDPs in that region and you also know that that is what they called winning the hearts and minds of the people.
The Nigerian Air Force of course has to potentially benefit from there because once somebody is friendly with you, you are likely to get more information from him. But the primary reason is the plight of the people. One of the most encouraging examples of what we did was sometimes ago when the Chief of Air Staff saw a five year old child in the IDP Camp. The baby was severely malnourished and was virtually given up. However, because we have such a programme on the ground, we don’t just treat them but we also nourished them back to health. This child was taken to one of our Care Centres in Bauchi and as I speak today, he has fully recovered.
Would you say that all the parties involved in this humanitarian issue are up and doing in their assigned responsibilities?
I believe everybody is doing their best. One thing you must acknowledge is that it is an enormous task. We had an upsurge in the number of internally displaced persons in Nigeria. A few years ago nobody would have been thinking that Nigeria would be a place where you have such a large number of IDPs arising from conflicts. As at the last count the figure being bandied around is close to two million. So it is not going to be an easy task managing such huge number. The federal government is obviously doing its best. Several committees have been set up and we also have international humanitarian organizations and some non-governmental organizations, all doing their best towards solving this problem.
Like I said the task is huge, but the resources are limited and that is why the Air Force believe that as part of its own Corporate Social Responsibility it could contribute. So what the Air Force is doing is virtually contributing to support the efforts of the federal government, the state and other humanitarian organizations.
How is the commitment on humanitarian services affecting your finances?
I may not be able to give you exert figures in terms of financial commitment on monthly basis. I am not in a position to do so. However, one of the interesting things is that there are some corporate organizations who have also witnessed what the Air Force is doing now. The non-relenting efforts of the Force in providing those humanitarian supports are noticeable.
What the NGOs have also done is to support us and that goes on and on. One of such is the recent donation of 4,000 cartoons of Indomie Noodles worth over N10 million to us by a corporate organization. It has been airlifted by our C130 to Maiduguri for the benefit of the IDPs in the northeast. That is just one, you also know that as part of efforts to strengthen our commitment there, the Chief of Air Staff instituted an arrangement whereby personnel of the Nigerian Air Force, both Officers, Airmen and others are encouraged on a quarterly basis to make voluntary donations in cash and also material items towards alleviating the plights of the IDPs.
Sir, what is your take on the comments of some US Senators to the effect that they would work against the Nigerian government from procuring arms from the US government based on allegations of human rights violation in the fight against terrorism?
I am aware that two Senators were said to be pushing for something like that. You also know that the US has a system in place, and we respect their system and of course the Senators will make their inputs and there are more than two Senators in the US government. There would be difference of opinions. What is important to us as a Service at the end of the day is what is communicated to us by the US government with respect to our own plans, not necessarily the internal politics within the United States Government. It is on record that the US government has been an allied of the Nigerian Air Force in the current campaign through training and other areas and we believe the support will continue.
In other words no, cause for alarm on the matter?
To the best of my knowledge, No.
Tell us more about the recent rehabilitation of some NAF aircrafts?
The primary reason for rehabilitating any aircraft at any time is the need for it, especially because the resources are limited. And it is highly resource intensive. It is always on the basis of needs that we rehabilitate them. The moment they are rehabilitated, they are put into use. All aircrafts are for different roles, some of the latest that we rehabilitated are the Dornier 228 aircraft. It is what they called a light transport aircraft. The plan for this one is to be used for courier service by the Air Force. That was the case in the past, but when things became worse, that has to be stopped.
The courier service was within the Nigerian Air Force so that we don’t have unnecessary delay in movement of mails. When I said mails, I am not necessarily talking of documents or letters, or things you cannot send via emails and the rest. It involves movements of our personnel within the Commands. Another one that has been rehabilitated is the ATR 42 aircraft.
What are your immediate challenges in the northeast?
In terms of challenges in the northeast, the Nigerian Air Force as a service is to project air power. Air power has what they call inherent limitations and irrespective of whichever Air Force. We are also facing these challenges, and one of them is the issue of weather. It is such that as a Pilot, one is unable to operate the way one wants to operate. And then to keep our aircraft in the air it is not an easy task.
That is why I must commend the federal government. This present government has been very supportive of the NAF. The credit to the successes recorded by the NAF should go to the FGN. In recent time, the FG has ensured timely release of resources to train the pilots, train technicians, train other ground crew and to buy spare for our aircrafts and other requirement needed to keep the aircraft flying.
There are delays in supplying the spare. Then one of the things we do is to anticipate, and work ahead to make early provisions. But beyond this, the Nigerian Air Force is also intensifying efforts towards developing our own local capabilities.
Again, there are some spares that hitherto we are only bringing from overseas, but now we have them. We have patented some. I gave an example recently of a spare part called hydraulic accumulator diaphragm. This diaphragm of course can only work for a limited number of hours as prescribed by the original manufacturers of the equipment after which its failure become imminent.
But then it is a very expensive item. We always have to import and sometimes there will be delays in importing. What the Nigerian Air Force did was to look at the material and then commissioned our own personnel and then working with some other stakeholders. So after series of experiments we have now been able to come up with our own. And the interesting thing is that the cost is several times less than what we were bringing from outside. It is easily available now and the icing on the cake is that it is much more durable and original. That is just one, there are quite a number of other examples.
What are your observations viz a viz media relations with military institutions?
You just touched on an area which is very dear to me. I wouldn’t know if you have noted it, I write some articles regularly published in newspapers. The first one I wrote was actually on the role of the media in the counter insurgency operations. What are the expectations? To a large extent some media practitioners are not actually aware of their full role whenever a country is at war. What is going on is actually a war and because one of the things that should be done is what we call media campaign or some form of information strategy in which the media play a significant role.
I have always said that the media should assist to as much as possible project the news of our success, of our victories and to a large extent de-emphasize our perceived failure. Because when you do that you find out that the morale of our troops becomes higher. They are emboldened to fight. And they believe the nation is behind them, because the media in a way represents the voice of the nation. When they know that the nation is behind them, they are emboldened and they have a cause to fight.
One of the most motivating factors, speaking from the view point of somebody who has been in war front, I was in Liberia and Sierra Leone from 1997 to 1999 as part of the ECOMOG operations as an aircraft engineer on the alpha jet aircraft, which we are using now to fight this insurgency.
Believe me, the most motivation thing for a soldier in the battle field is not money, it is knowing that he is fighting for a good cause, and one of the ways he knows that he is fighting for a good cause is when the people he represents are happy that he is there. So, the media represents the people; that is why we always urge the media to encourage our troops and de-emphasize our failures.
One of the things that the Nigerian Air Force has done is to make its door wide open. I am the gate way to the Nigerian Air Force in terms of communications and you will agree with me that I have tried my bit to be as responsive as possible.
The whole idea is to encourage the media to seek clarification, because we see the media as partners. However, the way some media practitioners go about it is as if there is a declared battle against the military. If it were in the far past, maybe they might have a reason. But not now that we leave our doors open, and they can always ask questions the narratives should be different.
So, on a daily basis we actually push out information on our activities. Because we believe we are accountable to the people, and we do that through the media. Sometimes the media do not do us justice. I will give an example, some days ago I got a call from a correspondent. He said there was this news going round that the Nigerian Air Force has some new airmen. That the Chief of Air Staff smuggled in additional people and that 80 percent of those people recruited are core northerners and the rest.
I said these mischief makers are at it again, number one, the recruitment is still ongoing, if the recruitment is on-going, how then did you determine that 80 percent are northerners? I said the standard fact is that once the recruitment is done the Nigerian Air Force will publish it in a minimum of two national dailies and also on its website and every other possible public means available stating the people who have been recruited, with all other necessary information.
I must also commend the media because I only gave a bad example, and I think it will not be fair to report that also on a more significant rote. The media has been very supportive in our current campaign, and you know one of the ways is reporting our activities. The media has been up to speed in that regard, so we commend the media. While those mischievous and unpatriotic ones, I will just encourage that they should have a larger picture, the larger picture at the end of the day is Nigeria, not the Nigerian Air Force not an individual, the larger picture, at the end of the day is Nigeria.
How would you relate this to the Osun State University issue?
On the Osun issue, it is another incident again that I felt the media did not do well because despite having stated the fact that my doors are always open. I just saw online, “Nigerian Air Force invades university of Osun”, without anyone seeking to find out from me if it is true. It was not the Nigerian Air Force that invaded Osun University.
There is a difference between the Nigerian Air Force and personnel of the Nigerian Air Force. People should always try to draw a distinction, an organization exists as an entity, individuals of the organization also exist as an entity, the organization are not perfect, the individuals are not perfect.
Our founding fathers envisaged this and that is why there are laws in place in the military and in the civil society, we are subject to the law.
There are laws in place to guide our behaviour and to mete out punishments to those found guilty. We know that individuals will always misbehave, sometimes due to mistake and sometimes due to negligence of order. When you say Nigerian Air Force invades, that connotes organizational endorsement, which is not the case. We are talking about some personnel who were alleged to have invaded. I will expect that somebody will call the Nigerian Air Force to ask if it is true, so that they will be able to give a balanced story, nobody called.
Based on our own philosophy to be responsive and proactive, I immediately put out a statement assuring them that I heard the report and of course the moment I saw the report I informed the Chief of Air Staff who immediately directed that a formal enquiry should commence and that was done. It was made clear that any Air Force personnel found guilty will be dealt with in accordance with our applicable laws and that process is on-going. The process in the military is such that, when an incident that involves both civilian and military occurs, it behoves that Board of Enquiry that is sitting to invite all parties. To get the military people is not really a problem but for the civilians. You need to write letters, and you need to wait for their response and you need to pray that they are cooperative and it’s taking a while. And I can mention that because I also called the unit commanders, so I know that to a large extent, many of the civilians allegedly involved came and gave their own version.
So that unit is under what we call the special operations command. So they have to send that report to special operation command. The command will review it and find out are there gaps? Are there things not covered? Are there things not properly explained? That is their responsibility as a Command. So any time the military comes out with a report, it has to be thorough. The Command will do it before it is sent to the Nigerian Air Force Headquarters. Then it will be subjected to critical review.
We will also do fence mending. I have held meetings with leaders of the University, the community people and other stakeholders. It was not the NAF that invaded the school.
And regarding the case of the airman that allegedly shot his girl friend; you know people wondered for a long time nothing seems to be happening. We are following our process. It is a thorough process. And of course at the right time, a court martial was convened after going through some streams of processes. One of the processes is the Board of Investigation, after that summary of evidence, etc, and the trial is on-going. One of the things NAF holds in high esteem is integrity, integrity of our words. And NAF is a highly professional service and we do not condone indiscipline anywhere.
