The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, has approved the immediate establishment of the Directorate of Veteran Affairs.
This is in a bid to stimulate better welfare packages for Nigerian Air Force (NAF) veterans and their families, the Director of Public Relations and Information Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet said in a statement on Friday.
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“The new Directorate, domiciled under the Administration Branch, will also be responsible for interfacing with similar structures in sister Services towards harnessing necessary benefits for NAF retirees under existing Federal Government programmes for veterans, among other responsibilities,” the statement said.
The CAS disclosed this while recently declaring open a 2-day Conference for NAF Administrative and Medical personnel. The Conference with the theme, “Efficient Human Resource Management: Panacea for Bolstering Morale and Improving Personnel Welfare”, attracted seasoned and erudite resource persons with vast knowledge in human resource management as well as experts in the field of medicine.
Air Marshal Amao challenged participants to critically assess areas where the NAF was lacking as regards personnel welfare and administration and come up with workable solutions to mitigate effects on the Service’s operational capabilities.
“As a highly technical Service that deals with sophisticated aircraft, equipment and military hardware, maintaining a highly skilled, efficient, healthy and motivated workforce should be the hallmark of our daily activities. To this end, we will continue to epitomize best human resource management practices to promote our operational effectiveness”, he said.
While expressing the profound gratitude of the NAF to President Muhammadu Buhari, for his unwavering and continued support, the CAS assured of NAF’s commitment to the successful execution of constitutional roles for a peaceful and united Nigeria.
Earlier, the Air Secretary, Air Vice Marshal Mahmud Madi had stated that the timing for the conference was apt, considering the strategic importance of the human resource in achieving organizational goals and objectives. He also stated that the NAF has invested hugely in human capacity development and personnel welfare in recent years which has translated to tangible gains in NAF operational conducts.
In the same vein, the Chief of Medical Services, Air Commodore Olabode Babalola revealed the desire of the CAS to ensure that the NAF Medical Services measure up to the global best practice. According to him, the CAS’ approval of the Medical Conference is a further attestation of his willingness to improve healthcare delivery in the NAF.
