By Ben Agande

Kaduna—Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, has raised an alarm that Air Force bases in the country were under threat of attack from terrorists.

Consequently, he has  requested the assistance of British Military Assistant Team to train Nigerian Air Force personnel on how to secure its bases and equipment.

Addressing participants at the opening ceremony of Base Defence Planning Retreat at Air Force Base, Kaduna, yesterday, the air chief enjoined officers and men to be vigilant.

R-L; National Security Adviser to the President, Major General Babagana Mongonu, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, Director-General of Department of State Service, DSS, Mr Lawal Daura and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayodele Oke DURING Security men with Service Chiefs at the State House in Abuja.

He said:  “We have had an attack on one of our airbases in the recent past, and current intelligence reports keep highlighting the possibility of attacks on our bases.

“Given the importance of bases in the airpower delivery matrix, it is not inconceivable to expect our adversaries to target our bases.

“The evolving security environment globally and, indeed, our nation has become complex and most times unpredictable. We are faced with a myriad of security challenges, ranging from terrorism to militancy, kidnapping to economic sabotage.

“On assumption of office and with the need to develop a robust base defence concept in view, we carried out a review of the then base defence concept.”

‘’The conclusion was that the erstwhile base defence concept, with its emphasis on emplacing static guards at identified key and vulnerable points, was no longer tenable and sufficient to respond to our contemporary threats.

“Consequently, we introduced a new base defence concept. The new base defence concept is premised on the development and deployment of an air-minded ground defence force, trained and equipped as special light infantry and capable of operating both inside and outside the base perimeter against contemporary threats while leveraging on intelligence and available modern technology.

Speaking on the facility he commissioned, the air chief said his meeting with officers earlier was to review activities in the last quarter and to also see what progress was being made in achieving set target.

“The facilities we just commissioned are supposed to be for training of base defense force or critical assets protection force. You know you can have air planes, if the base is not properly defended, you will still run into problems.

‘’We saw that in December 2013 when our base was attacked in Maiduguri and some air asset destroyed. We don’t want that to happen again. So, what we have been doing all the while is to build the capacity of base defense.

“We have identified a few gaps which we are working hard to ensure we close and transform them into something positive for our country.

On the newly commissioned facilities, he said:  “The facilities will take care of 300 regiment personnel that are coming for the training. We are also expecting BMAT from Britain to train the 300 personnel.

“The whole idea is to have a very reliable and highly skilled personnel that can protect all our bases in Nigeria, add value to security in our airports and assist in states we have security challenges,” he added.