The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it has graduated 1,928 recruits who had just successfully completed the Basic Military Training Course (BMTC) at the NAF Military Training Centre in Kaduna State.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.
Adesanya quoted the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, as saying that this was the first time in its history NAF graduated such a huge number of recruits at the same time.
According to the CAS, the feat was made possible by the recent expansion of the training facilities at the MTC to train up to 2,500 recruits at a time as against the initial capacity of 500 recruits.
He, therefore, expressed profound gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari who, in spite of the harsh economic realities, continued to support NAF to enable it to meet its operational requirements and the welfare of its personnel.
Abubakar urged the graduands to take advantage of the knowledge and skill they acquired from the newly-introduced Internal Security Module, to safeguard lives and property wherever and whenever they were deployed for internal security duties.
The CAS also reminded the new recruits of their civic responsibility, as they were subject to both military and civil law.
“Hence, you must submit to civil authority and protect our democracy. I urge you to treat all our people with respect and dignity,” he said.
The CAS also presented awards to the best three graduands in order of merit, namely: Recruits Anyim Emmanuel, Awokoya Adeshola and Nwamiri Chiomaobi, respectively.
The ceremony was attended by many senior military officers, serving and retired, as well as other dignitaries, including the representatives of Kaduna State Governor and the Emir of Zazzau, Dr Shehu Idris.
