By 
By Chinedu James
The Nigerian Airforce (NAF) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have agreed to partner on building capacity in the area of data management, protection and development of IT knowledge among personnel of the airforce.
The agreement was reached recently when the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar led a delegation of the NAF team on a visit to the NCC’s headquarters in Abuja.
Air Marshal Abubakar noted that with the advancement of technology, the collaboration with the NCC is critical to enhancing the technical capacity and ICT system of the Airforce in the fight against the insurgency across the country.
“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.
“Capacity building in certain areas particularly in IT, data management and protection are of paramount importance to the Nigerian Airforce and collaboration with NCC is cardinal in enhancing the needed technical capacity and ICT system for monitoring and managing down streaming information from ISI aircraft to ground-based station especially in the North-east.
“The support of NCC is needed to build the right capacity by training personnel of the Air Force, and by helping to bridge communication gaps in areas without network presence,” said Air Mashal Abubakar.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta in his response stressed the importance of ICT in combating insurgency in the country while welcoming the partnership with the NAF.
“The knowledge of information and communication technology is key to combating insurgency in the country. 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,” said the NCC boss.
Danbatta expressed willingness to always partner and engage with relevant stakeholders and security agencies to address challenges across the country noting that Strategic Collaboration and Partnership is constituted in the commission’s 8 point agenda and has been essential to growth and development across different sectors of the economy.
To kick-start the collaboration, a meeting is expected to hold between the facilitator of DBI, the Nigerian Airforce and NCC to determine the scope of the training required.
