11 female officers undergoing training as pilots – Air Chief
NEWS DIGEST – The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, says the Nigerian Air Force is committed to empowering its female officers just as it empowers their male counterparts
The CAS says 11 female officers are currently undergoing pilot training programmes within and outside the country.
Abubakar stated this on Friday when he received federal cabinet members who condoled with him over the unfortunate demise of Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot, Flying Officer Tolulope Arotile.
A statement by NAF spokesperson, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, partly read, “The CAS noted that Flying Officer Arotile had left her mark in the sands of time which he said proves that when it comes to displaying excellence and adding value to the society, age or gender should not be barriers.
“He disclosed that the NAF would, therefore, continue to give equal opportunities to female officers in terms of training, noting that a total of 11 female student pilots were currently undergoing flying training both within and outside Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, NAF on Friday graduated another set of Instructor Pilots at the 401 Flying Training School, Kaduna.
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The IP Course 12/2020 Course, a four-month training, had six participants, comprising one Wing Commander, two Flight Lieutenants, and 3 Flying Officers drawn from different platforms and units in the NAF.
Furthermore, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, said on Saturday that through her achievements, Arotile demonstrated that Nigerian youths could attain any height they set out to reach.
The News Digest reports that fresh facts have emerged that the ex-classmate who knocked down Arotile is a civilian who had no valid driving papers.
Quoting military sources on Saturday, Channels Television reported that the sources, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the civilian driver, accompanied by his friends, visited his relations at the Airforce base located in Mando area of Kaduna metropolis on the day of the incident.
It added that upon interrogation, the driver and former classmate, who is now in custody with another occupant of the vehicle, has no valid driver’s licence.
Meanwhile, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, said Arotile would be buried Thursday, July 23, at the National Military Cemetery, Abuja, with full military honours.
Arotile, a member of the Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 64, hailed from Iffe in the Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State, and contributed to the efforts to rid the North-Central states of bandits and other criminal elements by flying combat missions.
She was a squadron leader in Operation Gama Aiki in Minna, Niger State.
