The Chief of Air staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar who led the delegation stated in his opening remarks that, “The Nigerian Airforce is a highly technical service that requires knowledge and technical dexterity to deal with the challenges in the 21st century that are complicated by the advancement of technology.
He stated that: “Capacity building in certain areas particularly in IT, data management and protection are of paramount importance to the Nigerian Airforce and, that collaboration with NCC is cardinal in enhancing the needed technical capacity and ICT system for monitoring and managing downstreaming information from ISI aircraft to ground based station especially in the North-east.
He said, ‘’the support of NCC is needed to build the right capacity by training personnels of the Air Force, and by helping to bridge communication gaps in areas without network presence.”
Prof. Danbatta in his response commended the efforts of the Nigerian Airforce, the military and other security agencies in the fight against insurgency and, stated that ‘’the knowledge of Information and Communication technology is key to combating insurgency in the country.
Danbatta, further reiterated on capacity building that “The NCC will be very happy and willing to collaborate with the Nigerian Airforce as the training arm of NCC is the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) which was established in 2004 to develop capacity for the Telecommunication industry in the West African region’’. Hence a meeting would be convened between the facilitator of DBI, the Nigerian Airforce and NCC to determine the scope of the training required.
The NCC boss, further noted that the engagement with the Nigerian Airforce is consistent with an item of the Commission’s 8 point agenda , that is Strategic Collaboration and Partnership with relevant stakeholders including security agencies in the country.
The EVC concluded that the Commission is willing to partner and collaborate with all the relevant agencies of Nigeria to address the human challenges in the 21st century and beyond.