The Republic of South Korea has expressed the desire of its Armed Forces to partner with the Nigerian Air Force(NAF) in the fight against insurgency and other forms of criminality in Nigeria.
A statement by the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, AVM Olatokunbo Adesanya, said retired Maj.-Gen. Lee In-Tae, the Ambassador of the Republic of South Korea to Nigeria, said this during a visit to the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, on Thursday in Abuja.
Adesanya said that the proposed partnership is aimed at enhancing the operational capability of the NAF in the prosecution of the ongoing fight against insurgency and other forms of criminality in Nigeria.
In-Tae in the statement said that the South Korean leadership was not unaware of the major successes that had been recorded by Nigeria in the fight against insurgency.
He said that his country recognised the contributions of the NAF to enhancing security in Nigeria and was, therefore, willing to provide support in the area of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability.
He said that his country would also render support in technical expertise, training and maintenance toward further increasing the successes so far recorded in the counterinsurgency operations.
The Ambassador congratulated NAF’s leadership for its painstaking efforts and resilience, which he said had repositioned the NAF into a more professional Air Force that is well respected around the globe.
The statement said the CAS thanked the Korean Ambassador for acknowledging NAF’s efforts at repositioning the Service for optimum service delivery.
He equally congratulated In-Tae as well as the people and government of South Korea for the successful efforts at restoring peace in the Korean Peninsular.
He expressed appreciation to the South Korean government for its readiness to cooperate with the NAF toward proffering solutions to some of its challenges, especially in the area of ISR.
He said that the gesture was most appreciated and should be replicated by other more technologically advanced countries.
The CAS said that government all over the world would need to come together to form an alliance against a common enemy, which is terrorism.
“Terrorism is no doubt a global threat but could easily be curtailed through global partnership,” he said.
He, then, assured In-Tae, of NAF’s commitment to the proposed partnership and promised to advocate for the signing of a corresponding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two governments.
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