President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the Nigerian Airforce (NAF) to look inward and wean the country of over dependence on foreign technology. NAF should be more innovative in the use of local resources.
Speaking at the NAF Research and Development Competition/Exhibition 2016 on Tuesday in Kaduna, Buhari commended the efforts of the Service on the efforts being made to harness the available research and development potentials especially in the military aviation sector.
The President was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Danjuma Sheni, said in a bid to reposition the Armed Forces to better cope with daunting challenges, the current administration has made the modernization, re-equipping and continuous training of the Nigerian Armed Forces a top priority.
Conyinuing, “the Nigerian Armed Forces have in recent times been very busy doing a good job of confronting our nation’s current multifaceted internal security challenges. There is no doubt that the resources required to realize the full potentials of the armed forces are limited in view of the competing demands from other sectors, nevertheless, I strongly believe the FG will continue to do its best to sustain the current tempo of development.
He called on stakeholders to embark on fruitful collaborations and joint partnership to fund more research and development activities in the country and appealed to other public and private organisations to hold this sort of exhibitions that would promote research and development efforts.
In his remarks, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar said globally, research and development has proved to be the catalyst as well as the major instrument for technological and industrial advancements, with accompanying economic growth.
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