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Abubakar: We need more forces to monitor every inch of Sambisa

By Igho Akeregha, Abuja Bureau Chief; Segun Olaniyi and Lucy Elukpo
23 July 2017   |   4:19 am
Sambisa Forest is still substantially under the control of our forces and we fly over it day and night. Sometimes, for some of these pilots, as we are going to sleep, that is when they are getting airborne.

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• Post-housing Scheme For NCOs Gets Underway
• Service Begins Research Into Aircraft Production

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, in this interview divulged some steps taken by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) as the country bids to end the carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram insurgents. As a critical component of the counterinsurgency war in the North East, Abubakar said the service is also not without its fair share of challenges in the areas of men and materials. The CAS also enumerated efforts aimed at changing the narratives in this chat with IGHO AKEREGHA, Abuja Bureau Chief; SEGUN OLANIYI and LUCY ELUKPO

Sambisa Forest was ransacked several times. Even the Bring Back Our Girls Group were flown there to see things for themselves. So where are the remnants of Boko Haram operating from?
Sambisa Forest is still substantially under the control of our forces and we fly over it day and night. Sometimes, for some of these pilots, as we are going to sleep, that is when they are getting airborne. They take off at 11pm and land at 5am. All they want is to make sure that Nigeria is safe. Remember that the forest itself is about 60, 000sq kilometres, and you can’t be on every inch of it, but where the Boko Haram insurgents had their headquarters at Camp Zero has been dismantled. Do we have all the forces to capture every inch of the land within that 60,000sq km? That is the question we should be asking. From time to time when the insurgents try to infiltrate, we have addressed those threats adequately because we have our airplanes that are keeping an eye on what is happening in some of the areas where we think are too close to our forces, or too close to communities. Of course, we do not have all the assets to cover every inch of Sambisa Forest in order to see what is going on there. What we do is, we go out on Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR), prioritise the areas where we feel there are threats and once we confirm those threats, we take adequate steps to protect our troops and communities.

How about the Multinational Joint Task Force with neighbouring countries. Is it not yielding results? If it is, why are there still reports of Boko Haram activities around the borders?
Well, operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) are directly supervised by the Defence Headquarters. I will not be able to speak much on that, but what I can tell you is that we are collaborating with the air assets of some of these countries. They sometimes also deploy ISR aircrafts that carry cameras and are able to see what is happening on ground. We have been collaborating with them and we have operated jointly with them a number of times, but details of MJTF operations are things that only the DHQ will be in a better position to give a clearer picture of what is happening. We are also operating especially between Nigeria and Chad borders, where there is a green zone, and where we have deployed our ISR platforms a number of times. From here, we can spot the activities of Boko Haram insurgents, who sometimes run into Chad and come back into Nigeria. Remember also that of all the Lake Chad Commission member countries, Nigeria is the most endowed in terms of resources, and what we can afford to do, these other countries may not have the resources to do as well. Having said that, let me also add that the Federal Government has allocated a lot of money to support the MJTF to make sure that member countries are able to control the situation around their own areas, but we are not leaving it totally to them. We are very active around the Chadian-Nigerian border, and we have been able to attack a number of locations where the Nur faction of Boko Haram is operating from. We constantly try to see how we can make it impossible for them to come in and attack our communities and our forces.

We still have reports of the United States not willing to sell arms to Nigeria. What is the true position?
The United States is one of the countries supporting our operations. There are processes and procedures in the US that are in line with their own way of doing things. Even if the government supports the sale of equipment, the Congress has to come in also. So, I don’t think the U. S. government is saying ‘we are not going to support you,’ not at all. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has six pilots that are training in the U.S. We also have four other officers that are training in IT, while some others are flight engineers and so many others that are training in order for us to have the required skills and expertise to handle some of the issues that have to do with counterinsurgency operations. The U.S. is in the forefront of countries that are supporting us. It’s just that the procedure for acquiring equipment there requires our going through some processes, and that’s their system. That we are going through that system does not mean the government is unwilling to assist, we are working with them and with time, we should go through all these processes and might be able to acquire the aircrafts we need.

At the moment, which countries are supporting Nigeria in its counterinsurgency operations and selling arms to us?
All countries, especially friendly ones are supporting our efforts. For instance, Britain is supporting us very well and even through the British Royal Air Force. The country recently sent about 60 to 70 personnel that are training our men for our bases to be safe, and to make sure our airports are safe. You have seen us exercising at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwa Airport, Abuja. Very soon, we are going to carry out similar exercise in Port Harcourt and Kano. This is possible because of the support we are getting from the United Kingdom. Pakistan has just given us airplanes free of charge to use to train our personnel for six months, and they are producing ours at no cost to Nigeria. That is another form of support.

The Indian team is currently looking at our facility in Kaduna to see where they can help. There are many friendly countries that are supporting our efforts and I believe it is in their interest because terrorism is not a Nigerian issue, it is a global issue. If you don’t assist Nigeria to deal with it, chances are that if Nigeria is overwhelmed, these guys will find their way to other countries. I think they are seeing it from that perspective, and that is why everybody is doing everything humanly possible to support us. So far, I don’t have any reason to think that we have any specific country that is not helping Nigeria.

The last batch of Chibok girls just surfaced in Aso Rock where they were flown. Where did they come from? Sambisa? Your men were on ground to fly them to Abuja. How did the exchange take place?
Well, this is an issue that is outside the NAF. Our role was just to fly them to Abuja. So, we sent an aircraft that landed in Maiduguri, where we picked them and brought them to Abuja, that’s all.

The mishap of bombing IDP camp by the NAF has not been satisfactorily explained. What were the findings, and are you prosecuting any of your officers for negligence?
Normally when things like this happen, it is usually as a result of a communication gap. Nobody deliberately gets airborne with the mindset of going to kill civilians. In other words, no pilot would set out to kill an innocent man in spite of the fact that the NAF has been there for eight years and has also lost some pilots. Usually, all over the world, whenever you have this kind of issue, it is mostly due to communication gaps somewhere

This is one of the most tragic incidents that would continue to disturb most of us that are in positions of leadership in the NAF, because it is something that is making us feel very, very uncomfortable. First and foremost, our prayers go to those that have lost their lives whom we thought we were flying to protect and their family members, and to all of us, and indeed to Nigerians because the NAF is flying in the name of Nigeria. Those pilots go airborne with assets provided by Nigeria and the Nigerian people to go and protect the lives of Nigerians. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very tragic incident.

If you look at the history of war, these kinds of mistakes happened during the Second World War, when a convoy on the English channel was bombed by allied forces, which thought they were Germans. Sometimes, this communication gap occurs. However, after that incident, we quickly set up a board, which was there for two weeks, visited everywhere, interviewed everybody and has put together the reports and forwarded it to the Defence Headquarters. The Defence Headquarters will look at it before the government will formally disclose what really happened.

But at our level, we have looked at what we need to do extra to make sure that we foreclose the chances of any of such things happening again, at least to the best of our ability. We have been interacting with humanitarian organisations in Maiduguri with a view to passing information on their activities to the theatre in order to eliminate any communication gaps because if there are communication gaps, the air component might not have a picture of what humanitarian organisations are doing. The normal channel in this case is to go through the theatre commander, who will pass the information to the air component commander, and if there is any issue with getting the information from the theatre to us, the man already has a picture of what is going on.

We have also suggested a number of things, which we have discussed with the humanitarian organisations. For instance, the Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) were here recently and we made sure that with the information they gave us, we are able to locate where they are at any time, and that forms part of our briefings to the pilots in the mornings.

Remember also that when that incident happened, we sent our helicopters to evacuate wounded people from the village and we also provided medical support to them, and are currently providing medical outreach to all the communities around there, and in other parts of Borno State. We also have a level two hospital in Bama, which is providing laboratory services, has wards for admission of women, children and men, and we feed the patients that are admitted. We also have a nutritional programme that is targeted at children that are in the camp. Everyday, they get at least one meal from our hospital. In recognition of what we are doing, UNICEF and some NGOs have come in to support us with additional nutritional meals that we can prepare for the children. In doing this, we are employing women from the camp because they understand the food of the local people. That in a way is adding value to the people and also telling them that the NAF is there to save lives.

As I speak, we are conducting surgical operations on 60 IDPs that were brought from different locations, just to show them that this NAF belongs to them, and that we are here to support them.

Having said that, let me add that it was a very tragic and terrible mistake that an aircraft went there to bomb. Those pilots ran out that very day thinking they were going to protect lives and knowing fully well that even their own lives were at risk of being shot down by insurgents. They enthusiastically got airborne with the hope that they were going out there to save human beings, unfortunately it turned out that way. It was a very tragic thing. I believe with what we have put on ground, we are going to reassure the communities that we are there not to take their lives, but to ensure that they remain alive and to support them in terms of some of their medical needs.

In addition to this, we are providing borehole for drinking water in Bama; we are providing toilet facilities at the Dalori IDP Camp; we are providing shelter, and also providing another hospital there. In Bama any medical condition that we cannot deal with, we sometimes evacuate patients in our helicopters to our hospital in Maiduguri, where we accommodate and treat them free of charge. We have also established a cancer screening centre in Maiduguri. Since these people are moving in very large numbers looking for where to settle, they are certainly not going to have this kind of facilities to make use of. So that is why we established the cancer screening centre, which recently conducted screening for cervical cancer, breast cancer for women and prostate cancer for men. Of all that were screened, we have been able to support those that we think have issues. All of these we are doing to ensure that the communities are aware that we are there as their friends; to save them and not to kill them.

Recently, another medical team was deployed to Banki because of Nigerians that are coming in from Cameroon. So, we established a medical facility there and our doctors are conducting several surgeries for terrible cases and giving them medication. We have treated quite a number of the returnees there. With all these, I believe that we are trying to make the point that we are there for them. God willing, this type of tragedy will never happen again.

Does this mean that the officers who made the mistake have been let off?
No. Like I said, we are waiting for the outcome of the findings.
A very comprehensive and huge document has been written on the matter. The NAF is a highly professional and disciplined service, which goes out to kill criminals; those who are killing innocent people. At the appropriate time, the DHQ will speak on the matter and also point out whether those that did that are culpable or not. I believe the DHQ would give a very comprehensive explanation as to what happened, but on our own, we have taken remedial steps to avert a reoccurrence. We have a policy in the NAF where from time to time, we assemble our pilots and remind them of their responsibilities under international humanitarian laws, it is not as if they are just flying blindly. We have held this kind of forum in Yola, and we are about to hold another one in Abuja, where we call on NGOs, Amnesty International, the Red Cross, Human Rights Commission in Nigeria, and everybody to come and brainstorm and be reminded of our rights as pilots. At the forum, we will remind ourselves of what humanitarian laws say about conflict, vis-à-vis our limitations and our responsibilities. We have also introduced a module in the training of our airmen to show them their responsibilities under international humanitarian laws when they are deployed to deal with crises situations.

How would you rate the force you took over, to the one we have today?
When we came in 2015, the NAF was an air force that was committed to dealing with the problems of insecurity, not only in the North East, but in every part of the country. However, we also identified that there were so many gaps in what was on ground. We came to this conclusion by evaluating every activity that the NAF was involved in, both in the North East and in the South South.

After that evaluation, we were able to identify a number of gaps, one of which was lack of capacity. Besides the lack of capacity to discharge assigned tasks, there were issues with welfare, particularly accommodation. An example of serious accommodation challenge being a unit in Minna, Niger State, where we had about 12 personnel staying in a two-bedroom apartment. One of the bedrooms was occupied by an airman and his wife, and in between that bedroom and the next bedroom, was a toilet and a shower. The next bedroom was occupied by about four men, while the parlour, which also included the dining area was where the remaining officers put up. So, in a situation where you find people trying to catch a nap in this kind of arrangement, how many of them would really be able to relax and sleep well, and think about the task assigned to them the following morning? It would be very difficult.

Similarly, in Maiduguri when I visited for the first time, there was a standard-sized room (with no water, no toilet and bathroom) where eight soldiers slept on six-inch mattresses. For me, and from what I saw, it would be very difficult for you to expect much from this bunch of guys.

Having identified some of these gaps during the evaluation exercise, what we simply did was to try and see how to bridge them; provide more accommodation- both office and residential; renovate existing ones so that the personnel feel that the system is concerned about their wellbeing and so they are able to sleep well. Don’t forget, we are entrusting multi-million dollar aircrafts to these young officers to repair. If a man does not have a place to sleep and come out fresh to do his work, chances are that you will never have serviceable aircrafts to use and that is what was happening in my opinion in the past. But we have been trying to see how we can bridge that gap.

Also after that assessment, we realised that there were a number of fundamental issues that we needed to address because in my opinion, even the service was not properly structured. In other words, we are using a structure that does not fit into what is on ground right now. The NAF essentially was supposed to be a service that fights in the air, but we are fighting side-by-side with the Nigerian Army. Meanwhile, we have not been given the requisite training to be able to fit into land operations and remain effective.

This is because the basic military training we get at the Air Force Base is for us to be able to have that military touch in our lives, change us from civilians to military so that we will be able to handle weapons, protect our assets within the base from simple criminals and thieves, not Boko Haram. But this time around you have an enemy that moves in Hilux vehicles armed with RPGs and GPMGs.

So, how do you now use that kind of training to face this kind of challenge we have? Apart from that, we have deployed over 153 soldiers or airmen that are fighting side-by-side with the army in the North East. In Operation Safe Haven in Plateau State, we have officers and men that are fighting. How do we get the soldiers when it is time to rotate them? We send signal to all units to contribute. Some of them are medical personnel, aircraft technicians, meteorologists or air traffic controllers who essentially have been given basic military training and not equipped to deal with this kind of challenge of fighting Boko Haram and other militants and militia groups.

So, from the structure, you can clearly see that we need to add another command, the Special Operations Command, where people are given the required training to be able to fit into this kind of operations because they have been given over and above the usual military training, and that was how we came out with the idea of the Special Operations Command, which is based in Bauchi.  Currently, we are building capacity because it is not just having the structure, me must have the manpower to populate that structure. A few days ago, about 300 airmen graduated from this Special Forces Training that was organised by the British Military Assistance Team. About 60 royal officers were part of those training our guys to make sure that they have over and above what we usually give them in our basic military training. So, with that, I believe we have been able to address the issue of structure.

Recently, we also established a Ground Training Command, which is going to be based in Enugu, and the idea is to separate ground training from the air training because one man cannot be in charge of all the units that are providing for over 10 or 11 units, as the span of control would be too wide. And from our little understanding of management, we know that once the span of control is too wide, then you are not likely to be effective.

Now, we have also created the second command with the approval of the Air Council and the command has taken off. We are providing for infrastructure requirements in the 2018 budget, and I believe that with whatever we have on ground we can start something.

Still as part of efforts to keep the service in top shape, we are training our engineers and sending our pilots for training in different countries. We are increasing the number of platforms with the support of the Federal Government, and have acquired two sophisticated helicopters from the Russian Federation, which are operating in the North East and we are acquiring more. So, if we are acquiring other platforms, it is important that we begin to plan for the pilots that are going to fly those platforms or else we would have aircrafts on ground but without pilots to fly them. Because of this, from December last year till now, we have winged about 32 pilots that have undergone primary and basic training and they are now qualified pilots. They are now going to concentrate on the different platforms that we have.

We have also sent others for training in many countries such as South Africa, Egypt and Jordan, and we are also training in Nigeria, using every flying school in the country. For instance, at the International Training College in Ilorin, Kwara State, we have about 10 student pilots flying there.

We have improved the infrastructure for flying training in our Kaduna base. When we came in, I think we had about three trainer aircrafts in Kaduna, and even at that time, there were about 80 student pilots with only three aircrafts.

Over time, and with the support of the Federal Government, we have been given the resources to acquire additional trainer aircrafts, five of which arrived Friday July 14, and we have also reactivated the ones we found on ground from three to five. So with the five new ones, we are talking of 10 aircrafts. By the end of this year, we shall have additional five to take it to 15. The Pakistanis have given us their aircrafts to use while they produce ours at no cost to Nigeria, and they have seconded instructor pilots and technical support team, comprising their officers and men to be with us. We are providing accommodation, feeding and giving them allowances just to build our capacity on these new aircrafts we are acquiring. So far, they have trained four Nigerian instructor pilots, they are now qualified to train our own Nigerian pilots and they have also been maintaining the aircrafts for all the period from about January to now. We have also been able to train our technical support team in Pakistan. About 19 personnel are now qualified to take over from the Pakistanis when they depart.

Still in the area of training, we are building capacity even among the recruits. Like I said with the new structure, we must populate the structure with appropriate personnel. We are increasing the number of new intakes from the 1, 000 recruits every year to 4, 000 now. On July 21, about 2, 000 graduated. Taking 2, 000 every six months means you have to expand the infrastructure regarding their accommodation, toilet facilities and water.

We are also looking at the issue of post-housing programme for Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs). In the past, we had post-housing programme for only officers, but now, airmen/women are covered because it is wrong for one to put in about 35 years as an aircraft technician, servicing aircrafts used to bomb Boko Haram, only for such a person to leave at the end of 35 years and has nowhere to go. With the post-housing scheme, which the Chief of Administration of the NAF is managing properly for us, we are now beginning to give hope to these personnel, if not for those that are about to leave, the younger ones that are coming on board would benefit. Now, as they are leaving their recruit training, they are given a subscription form for the post-housing programme. With the 35 years they have to spend in the system, even if it is N2, 000 they are contributing every month, God willing, they should be able to pay for a house. We have brought down the cost of a three-bedroom apartment to about N7m.

Apart from that, we have also put in place a skills acquisition programme for dependants of the NCOs and the airmen. This is in different areas like tailoring, barbing, soap making, shoemaking etc. In fact, the interesting thing about the shoemaking aspect is that the guys in Lagos State, the last time we saw them have produced very beautiful boots that we want to even buy from them and supply to our recruits that are coming in August.

We are building capacity among the dependents of non-commissioned officers so that as their fathers are fighting out there, the mothers have children that are busy not only in school, but also acquiring skills, which means additional pay for the family. These are some of the programmes we have put in place.

Do you sincerely think the military is winning the ongoing counterinsurgency war in the North East?
I think we are. I will say without any reservation that the war is being won. Why? All you need to do is put what was happening in the past to what is happening today. I remember when I used to travel to Kaduna State to join the queue of people searching on the road. Most times one was never sure that he would get out of that queue alive. There were explosions in queues in Kaduna town itself, but we don’t have that now.

In the past, you had Boko Haram convoys made up of up to 15 or 20 Hilux vehicles, and we were all wondering where these guys were coming from, but today, we do not have those convoys moving from one village to the other killing people. Yes, we still have suicide bombings here and there, but for us in the air force, we will do everything to make sure that we adequately deal with the situation of suicide bombings. In doing so, we need serious intelligence because there is no fighter aircraft in the world that can detect a 13-year-old girl carrying explosives. It is the community that can help a lot in that regards by telling us this girl is suspected to be into this, and it is this person that is arming her. This is an aspect of the intelligence that we need. When we get that, we can then go to the root of it, but even at that, we are still working hand-in-hand with the Nigerian Army, and we have deployed additional equipment to the North East to make sure that we support the land operations to be able to detect these terrorists ahead of time, and alert the relevant sector to take care of them before they get into where they are going to kill innocent people.

We are also conducting surveillance over the University of Maiduguri, where our helicopters are regularly flying day and night to see if we can pick up anything. But like I said, the major issues with suicide bombings has to do with intelligence; and we must find out where these girls are mobilised from. In counterinsurgency operations, dealing with these issue have several components, and the military components is just one of the many others that need to be put in place. I think the Federal Government is doing everything humanly possible with other levels of government to see that they address those other components so that the military component would also add value to whatever that is required.

Allegations of favouritism trailed the recently concluded recruitment by the service. What is the true position of things?
If I say that a percentage of people recruited into the NAF are from the North or from the South, it presupposes that I have seen the list of people already recruited. It follows then that if someone says that 80 per cent of recruits are from Bauchi State, which is my state, then such a person must have seen the final list, and sat down to calculate and finally come to the conclusion that Bauchi indigenes indeed make up 80 per cent.  I am yet to see any mathematician that would be able to come out with this kind of figures without seeing the list, and that also shows how mischievous our system can be sometimes. I think it is most unfortunate.

First, the Federal Character Commission has been part of the recruitment process, as no recruitment exercise has been conducted by the NAF without getting the commission to be part of it. This time, we even involved members of the National Assembly because we have nothing to hide at all, and the process is very straightforward and transparent. In other words, you must have what is required to go into the service before you are taken in. In situations where, for instance, we find out that of the 100 that we are picking from a particular state, 70 of them are infected with hepatitis, we don’t make up the number by substituting the sick with candidates from other states. What we will simply do is to bring additional people to filter and see whether there are people that are well so that you will get your quota. From all indications, we have seen the results and they are out and I don’t think there is any state that has more than 86 people. So, where does 80 per cent of the total number coming from the North come from? Now I challenge those who have seen the 86 per state, let them come and say 80 per cent of the people are from the North.

It is so sad and painful that sometimes people just set out to cause distractions where there should be none. What we try to do as the NAF is to focus our minds as human beings on saving lives and making sure that our communities are safe and not to be distracted by mischiefmakers.

We are also in the process of enlisting 200 officers, who have already done their zonal screening. Even this one too, some people are asking why we are recruiting only accountants. But they forget that it is our service, and we are the ones that know where we are deficient in.

How important is the newly commissioned Liquid Oxygen (LOX) plant in Adamawa State to the service, and what are your efforts at local rehabilitation of platforms?
The liquid oxygen plant is a very critical asset for the NAF, as well as, any air force because flying requires oxygen. In commercial airlines you don’t carry oxygen masks because they are installed in the aircrafts and easily pop up when the need arises, because as you know, the higher you go, the less oxygen you have. But fighter pilots carry their oxygen so that when they fly at higher altitude, they simply inhale oxygen to be effective in what they are doing.

Unfortunately, we have been having serious challenges with oxygen. Sometimes our pilots fly without oxygen and they try to remain below 10, 000 feet so that they would not be affected by lack of oxygen up there. So we simply asked ourselves, why don’t we have this oxygen plant in view of the fact that it enhances the morale of the flying pilots? So, we have now been able to put together an oxygen plant with the support of the Federal Government. The good thing about that oxygen plant is that it will not only meet the requirements for our fighter pilots, it is also going to provide all the oxygen requirements of our medical facilities. Before now, we used to buy oxygen from Kano, Kaduna and elsewhere for the fighter pilots. The process was a bit untidy because most times the suppliers are unable to supply on demand due to one reason or the other. Like I said, all our medical facilities can now have access to oxygen courtesy of our storage facility, which has capacity for about 1, 000 litres of liquid oxygen, which can be gasified outside the plant, and then filled in cylinders, with which we can take to all our facilities that need it.

Now, that we have this facility, every fighter unit can get its oxygen requirements without any hitch. The fact that all our pilots now fly with oxygen is a very good achievement for us. We believe that it would also make our pilots to be more effective and to realise that we are concerned about their wellbeing. Currently, we have excess oxygen capacity, and that is why we extended supply to Adamawa State government hospitals. They now fill their cylinders at our plant, and at no cost to them, all in our bid to show them that we are here for them.

It is also a way of telling them you have supported us and this is the time to pay you back, and we have something that you can use. This is part of our strategy to win the hearts and minds of people in the North East.

Why did it take this long for the NAF to come up with a facility that is so critical to its operation?
I agree with you that we delayed. Even this one that just got commissioned started in 2015. The NAF is a highly technical organisation. That is why I just laugh when I sometimes read comments on Facebook, where people ask why we are still flying old aircrafts like M15, M16 among others. They simply do not understand what issues are involved in acquiring military equipment, particularly military aircrafts. You can have all the billions and the man will simply tells you that he is not selling to you, and there is nothing you can do than to go and produce your own. We have started doing Research and Development on it and God willing, with time, I believe that it will be possible for us to produce an aircraft that will fly and serve some purposes.

It is not by choice that we are flying some of these old aircrafts that we are flying today. What is important for us is to recognise what we require first and then put it side-by-side with what is available and try to

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