The government of Northern Nigeria blames lack of adequate military hardware on recession.

The Federal Government, yesterday, attributed its inability to adequately fund major projects, including those of the armed forces, to recession currently facing the country. It also lauded efforts of the armed forces in the fight against insurgency, with the available resources at their disposal. Minister of Defence, Mohammed Dan-Ali, who disclosed this while declaring open a two-day 2016 Nigerian Air Force Logistic Command seminar, lamented that the dwindling economy had adversely affected the procurement of military hardware.

Represented by the  Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Ambassador Danjuma Nanpon, Ali  stated that the seminar, with the theme “Repositioning NAF logistics for efficient employment and air power in response to contemporary national security imperatives” was apt because the sustenance of the country’s  war efforts largely depended on a sound logistic system.

He asserted that the  Nigerian Air Force had remained a major player in carrying out aerial bombardments which led  to the destruction of Boko Haram fighters’ camps, thus dislodging them from their strongholds within the Sambisa forests and adjoining  enclaves.   Fighter jets consume 1.9m litres of fuel monthly Earlier in his address, Chief of  Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, explained that the theme of the seminar was borne out of the need for  NAF to put together a carefully planned strategy to effectively and efficiently deploy necessary air power to address the challenges facing the country. One such strategy, according to him, is to ensure availability of  aviation fuel for fighter jets  in operational areas, whether the product was available or not. For instance, he disclosed that the service consumed an average of 1.9 million litres of aviation fuel monthly on its fighter aircraft. Also in his welcome address, Air Officer Commanding,AOC  Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal Sani Ahmed, said the command was striving to evolve a “credible, responsive and responsible logistics system that would guarantee timely, effective and efficient air support in all theatres of operations in the country.”