Abuja – The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, on Wednesday reiterated his commitment to strengthen the Air Force Military Schools and Girls Military Schools across the country.
Abubakar said this when the Ex-Junior Airmen Association worldwide (EX-JAM) paid a courtesy visit to the Air Force Headquarters in Abuja.
“We thank you for thinking it wise to visit the Air Force Headquarters; we have been following your association’s activities with a very keen interest.
“ We are also trying to identify with all those that passed out from Air Force Military School, and former Air Force Military School now Air Force Girls Comprehensive School,’’ he said.
Abubakar expressed happiness that members of the association were doing excellently well in their various fields of human endeavour.
He also expressed happiness that what NAF had put in place many years back had produced men and women of integrity, who were contributing meaningfully to the development of the society.
“In the NAF today, we are trying as much as possible to improve the facilities in our secondary schools and our infrastructure.
“ We want to also have a situation where especially the senior classes will not have more than four people in a room.
“ So that if you are a Junior Air man, you will aspire to become a senior person so that you live comfortably in a room of four people for enhanced learning,’’ he said.
Abubakar said that NAF was also trying to see how it could motivate and promote competition among students and staff of the secondary school.
He said that NAF schools had the best teacher-award which was being given on quarterly basis, as well as the best student-award which was also given on quarterly basis.
“ We have Mathematics s and English Language tests which are run every two weeks, and at the end of the term we select the best students.
“We are also looking at how best to promote subjects, especially Mathematics and English Language in our various schools across the country,’’ Abubakar said.
According to him, NAF has introduced interactive session in most of its schools to enhance cooperation and better performance.
The chief of air staff said further that NAF was finding ways of motivating its teachers to work harder and would appreciate any input from the association on how to achieve that.
He commended NAF schools for performing generally very well, adding that some of the schools were rated among the best in West Africa in 2015.
He said NAF had succeeded in expanding the hostel accommodation of the NAF school in Enugu State as well as improved its health care facilities to make life easy for the students.
“ We are also about to construct another Girls Comprehensive School in Abuja; so that we will have it in Abuja as we have in Jos.
“We are also changing the Air Force Secondary in Kaduna to a boarding school for both boys and girls, we are expanding the infrastructure in Yola, also for boys and girls,’’ he said.
Responding, the National President of the association, Mr Joshua Gana, commended NAF for the assistance it had been rendering to the association.
He urged members of the association to continue to support the chief of air staff in his efforts to turn around the NAF.
“ We in the EX-JAM are ever ready and willing to support NAF whenever we are called upon anytime and anywhere, because we are part of the NAF family,’’ he said. (NAN)
