The Nigerian Air Force, NAF, has disclosed that it spends N475 million monthly to fuel its fighter jets and transport planes to fight Boko Haram.
This was revealed by the chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, on Tuesday, August 30, 2016 in Lagos, while speaking during the opening of the 2016 Logistics seminar organised by the NAF’s Logistics Command, Daily Sun reports.
Abubakar said that the force uses 1.9 million litres of aviation fuel monthly to fly missions in the North-East, the hotbed of Boko Haram insurgency. Aviation fuel sells for N250 per litres, meaning that at least, N475 million is spent on a monthly basis.
Giving other breakdown, he said, “So we are talking of about 10,000 litres just for one aircraft time. We have so many other airplanes like the Alpha jets which consume 2,400 litres per hour. They also fly in formation and that means about 4,800 litres a day. There are other planes that fly on a daily basis.”
Air Marshal Abubakar said to ensure the force build capacity in logistics planning, the hierarchy of the NAF has embarked on training and retraining of its personnel within and outside Nigeria, especially as logistics play a very vital role in the success or failure of military operations.
He said the NAF has consistently sought ways of standardizing her logistics procedures and operations in line with current global best practices.
While explaining that the Air Force must put together a carefully planned strategy not only for the movement of equipment and personnel to the theatre of war, the NAF chief said this was important if the current security challenges must be properly addressed.
“It is only when we get the strategy right that we can hope to effectively and efficiently deploy air power necessary for addressing the challenges facing Nigeria. To support air operations in the North-East, the NAF must put an excellent plan that will ensure availability of aviation fuel in the operational area,” he said.
Earlier, the Federal Government said, on Tuesday, it will continue to support the military to end insurgency and militancy. Minister of Defence, Brig. Gen. Mansur Dan Ali (retd) said President Muhammadu Buhari is eager to end violent crimes.
He was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Defence Ministry, Amb. Danguma Sheni.
Meanwhile, the NAF had also said its fighter jets have destroyed a new Boko Haram camp in Borno State.
The camp, located between Malam Fatori and Kangarwa in northern part of the state, is about six kilometres from the location of another facility attacked on August 20 by fighter jets, killing over 300 insurgents.
A statement by the director Public Relations and Information, Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, said the post-strike Battle Damage Assessment, BDA, mission conducted by the Air Force had revealed that some surviving Boko Haram members had converged at the new location, prompting the latest strike.
Famuyiwa said the air assault will further “degrade the capability of the insurgents while fostering the creation of the necessary enablement for ground troops to operate.”
