- Professor Ołuwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe wants the University of Lagos to partner with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in the area of research
- Ogundipe urged NAF for a review of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the institution and the security body
- Air Marshal Abubakar says before now, NAF had to rely on other countries for its aircraft maintenance needs
The vice chancellor of University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Ołuwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe, has expressed the desire of the institution to have closer ties with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in the area of research and development.
NAF, in a statement on Friday, February 23, said Ogundipe, made this known when a team from the university paid a courtesy call on the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
Ogundipe, who was represented by the deputy vice chancellor in charge of development services, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, used the occasion to congratulate the NAF on the recent induction of its first indigenous operational Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), stating that the visionary leadership of Air Marshal Abubakar was, without doubts, contributing meaningfully to national development.
Professor Ogunsola with Abubakar and another officer. Credit: NAF
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The statement said Ogundipe noted that the military drives research and development globally, adding that the university also possesses required competencies and would love to partner with the NAF to achieve the desired technological development in Nigeria.
Ogunsola, standing for the institution, noted further that challenges serve as a motivation for the university to achieve more and that some of its areas of competencies include nanotechnology, coding, cyber security and medical sciences, and others.
She appealed to NAF authorities to encourage its personnel to make use of the university’s various certification programmes to validate their skills, as that would make them relevant both in active service and upon retirement.
The air force officers and the UNILAG team. Credit: NAF
She then requested that the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between both parties, which would expire in May 2018, be renewed and expanded in scope.
Air Marshal Abubakar, in his response, told the team that it was practically impossible to resolve the nation’s security challenges without a strong and viable air force that is capable of effectively projecting its power even beyond our shores.
The CAS revealed that the NAF had relied solely on other countries for even the most basic of its aircraft maintenance needs.
According to him, this had posed a huge challenge to the effective and efficient delivery of airpower and hence, the need to look inward towards developing indigenous capacity.
Abubakar and Prof Ogunsola. Credit: NAF
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Abubakar remarked that UNILAG had on its staff strength, individuals who are familiar with the technological challenges of the NAF and who also possess the skills to resolve them.
He mentioned some of the challenges and reiterated the NAF’s desire to leverage on those competencies to address some of its technological needs in line with the subsisting MoU between both parties.
Air Marshal Abubakar immediately directed the NAF’s chief of standard and evaluations to commence the process of reviewing the subsisting MoU to expand its scope by including newly identified technical needs of the NAF.
The UNILAG team with Air Marshal Abubakar. Credit: NAF
NAIJ.com earlier reported that Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar recently led a delegation of senior officers from the Headquarters Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on a courtesy visit to the executive governor of Nasarawa state in Lafia on February 20, 2018.
The one-day working visit was in furtherance of the NAF’s plan to establish a Quick Response Wing (QRW) in Lafia and other settlements, especially close to the border between Nasarawa and Benue states.
Female aerospace engineer from the Tsaigumi UAV team - on NAIJ.com TV
Source: Naija.ng
