ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar has lauded the management of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM) for providing the needed technical support that has enabled the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to sustain its counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations against the Boko Haram terrorists.
Abubakar stated this on Wednesday, while receiving the management of IVMC led by its chairman, Mr. Innocent Chukwuma in his office in Abuja, where he expressed the willingness by the NAF to expand the scope of existing research and development collaboration with the company.
The company, he said, at a time when the NAF would have been forced to ground its entire fleet of Alpha Jets due to lack of brake assembly, had helped to locally modify and overhaul the brake assembly of the MB-339 aircraft for adoption on the Alpha Jets.
According to the CAS, this ingenious effort by IVM was instrumental to the continued operation of the Alpha Jets, and had helped to save the day when help was not forthcoming from abroad.
Abubakar stated that the contribution by IVM deserves national recognition and award, given the important role played by the Alpha Jet in the ongoing counter insurgency operations in North East Nigeria.
He said that the collaboration between the NAF and IVM was in line with one of the key drivers of his vision, which is “strategic partnership with ministries, departments and agencies for enhanced research and development”.
Beyond the feat, he added, the NAF is poised to exploit the possibilities of mass producing the Alpha Jet break assembly and other parts locally by partnering with IVM, as well as other credible organisations, to build own capacity for enhanced self-reliance.
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Abubakar stated that the invitation of IVM team to NAF Headquarters for further discussions was based on this premise.
He said: “Our partnership with IVM would not end with the Alpha jet break assembly but a leeway to forge new frontiers, through research and development, to replicate some of the spares needed by our platforms.
“The feat has not only saved the country huge foreign exchange that otherwise would have been spent abroad but also adding value to Nigerians through provision of job opportunities.”
Responding, Chukwuma expressed the readiness of his company to partner with the NAF to help manufacture locally some of the spares needed to keep its aircraft operational.
He noted that such synergy as existing between the NAF and IVM would help to reduce the dependence on foreign technologies while promoting self-reliance, as well as technological and economic development.
The chairman of Innoson Motors also disclosed that his company has the expertise to locally manufacture and assemble a number of automobile products that would be of benefit to the NAF.
