By Senator Iroegbu
Flight Lieutenant Kafayat Sanni and her peers of the Nigerian Air Force
(NAF), are living their dreams as Nigeria’s first female fighter pilots;
even as she readies to go and kick asses of some Boko Haram and Islamic
State in West Africa (ISWAP) terrorists in the North East.
The essence of this epochal assignment should not be lost on us; because
this mission is a policy milestone that took years of sacrifice,
especially on the part of their predecessors, whose unfulfilled
professional goals were galvanised to break the hitherto ironclad gender
barrier against female officers in the Nigerian military. She and her
pioneering colleagues will forever be remembered with nostalgia that
once upon a time in the nation’s history, Nigerian military female
Pilots delivered a payloads of hellfire missiles against the insurgents
who have degraded women as a sex object to be kidnapped and held in
captivity. But with these female pilots joining the battlefield, is it
not time to turn the tables on the insurgents?
Why do we think and expect so?
It is often written that whatever a man can do, a woman can even do
better. Nevertheless, this axiom remained elusive in the combat history
of the Nigerian Armed Forces until President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011
authorised for the training of female officers on combat missions
through admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). Expectedly,
this helped to produce a set of 20 female cadets nicknamed ‘Jonathan
Queens’ who were admitted into Nigeria’s premier military training
institution.
Unfortunately, this huge career leap for female officers and personnel
was almost ruined in 2017 when President Muhammadu Buhari in a policy
reversal reportedly gave a nod to end the admission of female cadets
into the combatant course of the NDA. Buhari and Nigerian military
authorities, allegedly came under pressure from some vested interests in
the Northern part of Nigeria who were opposed to the idea of female
combatants, and ratified the in the National Defence Policy 2017
(Revised); Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service Officers 2017.
Consequently, the recommendation 19 of that revised policy was to phase
out the training of female combatants in the NDA.
Even though some military sources cited the unacceptable danger and
casualties of the female combatants, especially the ground forces, may
incur at the hands of the insurgents in the Northeast as the reason for
halting the programme, it was however, a major career blow.
Fortunately, there were other routes through which this all important
mission for gender equality in the military could be achieved as there
were various types of commissions in the Armed Forces namely: Regular
Combatant Commission, Short Service Combatant Commission, Direct Regular
Commission, Direct Short Service and Executive Commission. It was these
veritable loopholes that have enabled the NAF to encourage the training
and eventual winging of female pilot combatants that have passed with
flying colours.
Therefore, as Sanni and other combat female Pilots have embarked on
this national assignment against the terrorists in the North East and
any other part of the country as the need arises, they have indeed
pioneered a patriotic professional revolution for gender parity in the
Armed Forces of Nigeria for generations to come. This is all thanks to
the former President Jonathan as well as the gender sensitivity of the
incumbent Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
Since assumption of office, the Air Chief Abubakar, has made it a point
of legacy mission to upgrade the professionalism and career of female
officers in the Nigerian Air Force including churning out of well
trained, able and capable combat pilots. To this end, his mission is
being accomplished as well as commendably remarkable.
In line with this policy trend, Abubakar had on Tuesday, May 5, 2020,
winged another female combat pilot as part of his mission to improve the
operational capacity of the Air Force, adding that the 12 pilots winged
had their flying training both in Nigeria and abroad having completed
the nine months comprehensive flying training programme.
“I am happy that we have among the 12 winged was the second ever
female helicopter pilot”, he added, before disclosing that another 26
student pilots are currently undergoing or scheduled to begin basic
flying training abroad, out of which two are female officers.
“Upon completion of their training, one would become the second ever
female fixed-wing fighter pilot in the NAF, while the other would
graduate as the first ever female Qualified Flight Instructor (QFI) in
the 56 years history of the Service. We have equally increased capacity
for in-country flying training. At the moment, there are also 39 student
pilots undergoing various stages of training in NAF flying schools”,
he stressed.
It will be apt to recall that the NAF on October 15, 2019, made history
by decorating Flying Officer Kafayat Sanni, as the first female combat
helicopter pilot as well as Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, and others
also known as the “NAF Female Pilots of War’. They are among the six
outstanding female fighter pilots who are at the moment, proving their
worth in the destruction of a strongholds of the Boko Haram and ISWAP
terrorists in the North East part of the country.
According to reports by PRNigeria and Global Sentinel, some of them are
actively involved in degrading the enclaves of terrorists and bandits,
especially in North-Eastern Nigeria. While flying Officer Genevieve
Nwaogwugwu, Flight Lieutenant Chika Ani, and Flying Officer Olubunmi
Ijelu are Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) pilots,
Flying Officer Sanni and Flying Officer Arotile are fighter pilots
currently serving to restore peace in the region ravaged by insurgency.
Flight Lieutenant Blessing Liman is a respected Pilot in the
Presidential Air Wing.
Commending this feat, the NAF Director of Public Relations and
Information (DOPRI), Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, saluted all the
women for what he described as their unique resilience, industry,
productivity and commitment to humanity.
According to Daramola, the well trained and adequately equipped
Women-of-War are proving their combat bravery and professional gallantry
in complementing the efforts of troops in counter-insurgency campaigns
and other crisis zones in the country.
He also revealed that the newly winged female helicopter pilot, Flying
Officer Chinelo Nwokoye, “is expected to join other female pilots who
are currently deployed in different theatres of operation in the country
to contribute her quota in the defence of her fatherland”.
Accordingly, with female fighter pilots swelling their ranks with
skills, finesse and new perspectives, it would be safe to say that the
Nigerian women in General and NAF female officers in particular, have
come of age.
This was also acknowledged by the Chief of Training and Operations
(CTOP), Air Vice Marshal James Gwani, who noted that the winging of the
12 pilots including the female combat officers, was another milestone
achievement by the current NAF administration.
This, he said, would further boost the aircrew disposition of the
Service and contribute to fulfilling the constitutional roles of the NAF
especially in the series of ongoing air operations across the country.
There is no doubt about this because as the saying goes: “the female can
even do better”.
_IROEGBU IS A MEDIA PRACTITIONER, SECURITY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS ANALYST.
HE CAN BE REACHED ON SENATOR.IROEGBU@YAHOO.CO._
