By Gift Samuel, The Sight News
Kaduna-As part of activities marking its 54th Anniversary Celebration, the Nigerian Air Force(NAF),on Friday, performed the first winging ceremony of Aircraft and Armament engineering personnel in NAF.
The winging, with the aim to reinvigorate the pursuit of excellence, which is the core value of the NAF, had six (6) Senior Officers and three (3)Airmen winged.
Among the winged Senior Officers was the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Vice Marshal, Olatokunbo Adesanya.
Speaking at the official launch of the wearing of wings by Engineering and Armament personnel in the Nigerian Air Force, the Chief of Air Staff(CAS) Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, disclosed that the NAF in the last three years has trained over 288 Officers, Airmen/Airwomen overseas in different fields of aircraft and armament engineering.
He noted that no effort has been spared in ensuring that NAF engineering / armament units are appropriately equipped to carry out their assigned roles.
According to him,”As part of efforts to reposition NAF aircraft engineering and armaments facilities in line with global best practices, a board of officers was constituted to categorize engineering and armament personnel according to their skills to enhance career planning and maximize productivity . The Board recommended 3 categories, namely; basic, intermediate and senior levels based on knowledge and experience.
“Personnel are hereby authorized to wear the appropriate wings for their Category as part of the approved dress code for NAF aircraft Maintenance and armament engineers” he said.
He announced that the winging has opened a new chapter in the history of NAF Aircraft and Armament Engineering Specialties with the official launching of the Aircraft Engineering and Armament wing as a mark of recognition for personnel in the different categories.
The CAS charged the winged personnel to strive for excellence as they seek self improvement in their fields of Specialization and urged them to keep an open mind to learn and be mentored by those ahead of them in their field.
“No matter What category you belong, you must keep abreast of modern engineering practices to be proficient and relevant. Always remember that there is no finishing line in the race to attain professional excellence” he remarked.
On his part, the Chief of Aircraft Engineering, Air Vice Marshal Abdulganiyu Olabisi, emphasized that the objective of the initiative is to encourage the personnel to aspire to the pinnacle of Aircraft Engineering specialty through relentless pursuit of professional excellence.
In his words, “the the Board that worked on modalities for categorization, recommended 42 personnel for the Senior category. These personnel are to wear half wing with red Iaurels while the 66 others in the Intermediate category are to wear half wing with blue Iaurels. In the Basic category we have 108 personnel who are to wear half wing with no Iaurels” .
The Sight News gathered that at the moment, there are a total of 216 personnel who are qualified to wear aircraft and armament engineering wings.
It is as also learnt that Commissioned Officers are to wear golden half wing while Non-commissioned Officers are to wear silver half wing and the categorization of NAF engineering and armament personnel is to be reviewed annually.
