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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Senator Iroegbu<\/p>\n
Flight\u00a0 Lieutenant Kafayat Sanni and her peers of the Nigerian Air Force
\n(NAF), are living their dreams as Nigeria’s first female fighter pilots;
\neven as she readies to go and kick asses of some Boko Haram and Islamic
\nState in West Africa (ISWAP) terrorists in the North East.<\/p>\n
The essence of this epochal assignment should not be lost on us; because
\nthis mission is a policy milestone that took years of sacrifice,
\nespecially on the part of their predecessors, whose unfulfilled
\nprofessional goals were galvanised to break the hitherto ironclad gender
\nbarrier against female officers in the Nigerian military. She and her
\npioneering colleagues will forever be remembered with nostalgia that
\nonce upon a time in the nation’s\u00a0 history, Nigerian military female
\nPilots delivered a payloads of hellfire missiles against the insurgents
\nwho have degraded women as a sex object to be kidnapped and held in
\ncaptivity. But with these female pilots joining the battlefield,\u00a0 is it
\nnot time to turn the tables on the insurgents?<\/p>\n
Why do we think and expect\u00a0 so?<\/p>\n
It is often written that whatever a man can do, a woman can even do
\nbetter. Nevertheless, this axiom remained elusive in the combat history
\nof the Nigerian Armed Forces until President Goodluck Jonathan\u00a0 in 2011
\nauthorised for the training of female officers on combat missions
\nthrough admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). Expectedly,
\nthis helped to produce a set of 20 female cadets nicknamed ‘Jonathan
\nQueens’ who were admitted into Nigeria’s premier military training
\ninstitution.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately,\u00a0 this huge career leap for female officers and personnel
\nwas almost ruined in 2017 when President Muhammadu Buhari\u00a0 in a policy
\nreversal reportedly gave a nod to end the admission of female cadets
\ninto the combatant course of the NDA. Buhari and Nigerian military
\nauthorities, allegedly came under pressure from some vested interests in
\nthe Northern part of Nigeria who were opposed to the idea of female
\ncombatants, and ratified the in the National Defence Policy 2017
\n(Revised); Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service Officers 2017.
\nConsequently, the recommendation 19 of that revised policy was to phase
\nout the training of female combatants in the NDA.<\/p>\n
Even though some military sources cited the unacceptable danger and
\ncasualties of the female combatants, especially the ground forces, may
\nincur at the hands of the insurgents in the Northeast as the reason for
\nhalting the programme, it was however, a major career blow.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, there were other routes through which this all important
\nmission for gender equality in the military could be achieved as there
\nwere various types of commissions in the Armed Forces namely: Regular
\nCombatant Commission, Short Service Combatant Commission, Direct Regular
\nCommission, Direct Short Service and Executive Commission. It was these
\nveritable loopholes that have enabled the NAF to encourage the training
\nand eventual winging of female pilot combatants that have passed with
\nflying colours.<\/p>\n
Therefore, as Sanni and other combat female\u00a0 Pilots have embarked on
\nthis national assignment against the terrorists in the North East and
\nany other part of the country as the need arises, they have indeed
\npioneered a patriotic professional revolution for gender parity in the
\nArmed Forces\u00a0 of Nigeria for generations to come. This is all thanks to
\nthe former President Jonathan as well as the gender sensitivity of the
\nincumbent Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.<\/p>\n
Since assumption of office, the\u00a0 Air Chief Abubakar, has made it a point
\nof legacy mission to upgrade the professionalism and career of female
\nofficers in the Nigerian Air Force including churning out of well
\ntrained, able and capable combat pilots. To this end, his mission is
\nbeing accomplished as well as commendably remarkable.<\/p>\n
In line with this policy trend, Abubakar had on Tuesday, May 5, 2020,
\nwinged another female combat pilot as part of his mission to improve the
\noperational capacity of the Air Force, adding that the 12 pilots winged
\nhad their flying training both in Nigeria and abroad having completed
\nthe nine months comprehensive flying training programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am happy that we have among the 12 winged was the second ever
\nfemale helicopter pilot\u201d, he added,\u00a0 before disclosing that another 26
\nstudent pilots are currently undergoing or scheduled to begin basic
\nflying training abroad, out of which two are female officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cUpon completion of their training, one would become the second ever
\nfemale fixed-wing fighter pilot in the NAF, while the other would
\ngraduate as the first ever female Qualified Flight Instructor (QFI) in
\nthe 56 years history of the Service. We have equally increased capacity
\nfor in-country flying training. At the moment, there are also 39 student
\npilots undergoing various stages of training in NAF flying schools\u201d,
\nhe stressed.<\/p>\n
It will be apt to recall that the NAF on October 15, 2019, made history
\nby decorating\u00a0 Flying Officer Kafayat Sanni, as the first female combat
\nhelicopter pilot as well as Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile, and others
\nalso known as the “NAF Female Pilots of War’. They are among the six
\noutstanding female fighter pilots who are at the moment, proving their
\nworth in the destruction of a strongholds of the Boko Haram and ISWAP
\nterrorists in the North East part of the country.<\/p>\n
According to reports by PRNigeria and Global Sentinel, some of them are
\nactively involved in degrading the enclaves of terrorists and bandits,
\nespecially in North-Eastern Nigeria. While flying Officer Genevieve
\nNwaogwugwu, Flight Lieutenant Chika Ani, and Flying Officer Olubunmi
\nIjelu are Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) pilots,
\nFlying Officer\u00a0 Sanni and Flying Officer\u00a0 Arotile are fighter pilots
\ncurrently serving to restore peace in the region ravaged by insurgency.
\nFlight Lieutenant Blessing Liman is a respected Pilot in the
\nPresidential Air Wing.<\/p>\n
Commending this feat, the NAF Director of Public Relations and
\nInformation (DOPRI), Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola,\u00a0 saluted all the
\nwomen for what he described as their unique resilience, industry,
\nproductivity and commitment to humanity.<\/p>\n
According to Daramola, the well trained and adequately equipped
\nWomen-of-War are proving their combat bravery and professional gallantry
\nin complementing the efforts of troops in counter-insurgency campaigns
\nand other crisis zones in the country.<\/p>\n
He also revealed that the\u00a0 newly winged\u00a0 female helicopter pilot, Flying
\nOfficer Chinelo Nwokoye, “is expected to join other female pilots who
\nare currently deployed in different theatres of operation in the country
\nto contribute her quota in the defence of her fatherland”.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, with female fighter pilots swelling their ranks with
\nskills, finesse and new perspectives, it would be safe to say that the
\nNigerian women in General and NAF female officers in particular, have
\ncome of age.
\nThis was also acknowledged by the Chief of Training and Operations
\n(CTOP), Air Vice Marshal James Gwani, who noted that the winging of the
\n12 pilots including\u00a0 the female combat officers, was another milestone
\nachievement by the current NAF administration.<\/p>\n
This, he said, would further boost the aircrew disposition of the
\nService and contribute to fulfilling the constitutional roles of the NAF
\nespecially in the series of ongoing air operations across the country.
\nThere is no doubt about this because as the saying goes: “the female can
\neven do better”.<\/p>\n
_IROEGBU IS A MEDIA PRACTITIONER, SECURITY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS ANALYST.
\nHE CAN BE REACHED ON SENATOR.IROEGBU@YAHOO.CO._<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Senator Iroegbu Flight\u00a0 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n