By Sumaila Ogbaje
The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshall Hasan Abubakar, says the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) will exceed 30,000 personnel by 2027, marking a significant leap in its manpower demands.
Abubakar disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja, at the opening of the NAF Administration Personnel Seminar, with the theme, “Optimizing Contemporary Human Resources to Enhance On-going Transformation Initiatives of the NAF”.
He said the NAF had experienced remarkable growth over the past 13 years, with an 86 per cent increase in its overall population.
According to him, the numbers of airmen and airwomen have doubled since 2013, driven by higher intake rates to meet operational demands.
”The most significant growth surge occurred between 2017 and 2020 and currently, the officer-to-airmen ratio stands at approximately 1:6.
”Under my watch, more than 530 officers were commissioned and about 2,300 airmen were recruited.
”If we maintain this growth rate, the NAF is projected to exceed 30,000 personnel by 2027.”
The CAS said that the rapid increase in staff numbers, underscored the need for modern, computerised human resource management and proactive administration.
He also said that it underscored a better career management, personnel record keeping, performance evaluation, accommodation, healthcare and more welfare incentives.
These factors, according to him, will remain critical for maintaining operational readiness, job satisfaction and high morale.
He added that some policy efforts aimed at improving personnel management and administration include the purchase of an office complex in Gudu, which will house the Air Secretary Branch and a few other Branches.
On welfare, Abubakar said that the NAF had made significant strides, including better-equipped medical facilities, improved accommodation, enhanced insurance policies and affordable housing schemes.
”It is noteworthy that a total of 2,972 personnel benefited from newly constructed or renovated accommodation facilities in the past one and a half years.
”These measures are intended to enhance administrative efficiency and bring services closer to personnel,” he added.
The Air chief said that the theme of the seminar aligned with his command philosophy, and addressed the need to align human resource practices with the dynamic requirements of operational environments.
He emphasised that the human element remained the cornerstone of any organisation, adding that a well-managed workforce was essential to ensuring that the right skills were strategically deployed at the right time and place to achieve mission objectives effectively.
Earlier, the Chief of Administration, NAF, AVM Idi Sani, said the seminar, was a product of deliberate efforts to galvanise administration personnel into critical thinking concerning the NAF emerging manpower requirements in a time of positive change.
Sani said the seminar was designed to configure the right manpower balance for the air force’s new posture, taking into consideration, the modification of its staffing requirements to conform to the harmonised Armed Forces of Nigeria structure.
According to him, the modified NAF structure is expected to involve improved skills-based solutions that will ensure the effective utilisation of resources to achieve the desired range of efforts.
”Resources are not limited to equipment and materials, but also the appropriate manpower that can effectively utilise other resources.
”Thus, the onus of basic utilisation, is on the NAF’s administration personnel specialists to be able to manage the relevant skilled manpower required in order to enhance the NAF operational effectiveness,” he said.(NAN)
