Capacity building: NAF trains over 22,000 in 4 years

Since inception of its present leadership, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has trained over 22,000 personnel both locally and abroad to enhance their capacity in order to ensure efficient execution of its constitutional role.

Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar disclosed this on Tuesday at

a 2-day Capacity Building Workshop on New Tecniques in Participatory and Collaborative Strategic Information Management organised for personnel of the Directorate of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force in collaboration with Messrs Capital Forum Limited.

He said the workshop was one of local capacity building for public relations personnel of the NAF aimed at exposing them to strategies and professional best practices to advance the cause of Public Relations and Information Management in NAF.

Represented by Chief of Administration (NAF), Air Vice Marshal Kingsley Lar, the CAS said Public Relations plays an invaluable role in management functions as well as the overall effectiveness of any organization, especially in these modern times.

“This is more so as contemporary Public Relations practice has evolved from merely informing the public to engaging the public with a view to positively shaping perception of the organisation,” he said.

“Indeed Public Relations is now more about creating value to generate awareness than creating awareness to generate value. The Nigerian Air Force, as a professional fighting force, is quite mindful of this new paradigm and has continued to leverage the strategic significance of Public Relations through effective communication and information management in the face of a volatile and dynamic global security environment.”

“Indeed, it should be appreciated that the nature of modern warfare has, over time, brought to the fore the need to ensure the effective management of information, especially as it relates to various audiences within the media space. This is particularly critical in sub-conventional warfare, especially counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, where the support of the local populace is vital to successful operations.

” Accordingly, a cardinal objective of strategic communications must be to continually assure the people that military operations are designed to ensure their safety, security and well-being. This requires the development of well-structured narratives that are appropriately channelled to convey the right message to the target audiences in a timely manner.”

Earlier in his welcome address, Director Public Relations and Information Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola said the  workshop was being conducted pursuant to one of the key drivers of the Chief of the Air Staff’s Vision, that is “Human Capacity Development through Robust and Result-Oriented Training for Enhanced Professional Performance”.

“It is indeed another testament to the value the Chief of the Air Staff places on Public Relations and Information Management, and yet another in a series of training programmes that have been conducted for Nigerian Air Force Public Relations and Information personnel over the past few years,” he said.

The Managing Director of Messrs Capital Forum Limited, Mallam Isa Moddibo said the workshop was not a classroom approach, but one that enables participants to interact with resource persons to develop strategies that will ensure effective communication.

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