A Nigerian Air Force (NAF) officer, Squadron Leader Fredrick Oyenusi, has broken a 20-year old Nigerian military record at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji, Kaduna State.

Oyenusi won the prestigious “Tie of Merit”, which is only awarded to a distinguished student of AFCSC, who obtains a ‘B’ grade.

The Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, in a statement, said the officer’s feat, which had not been recorded for over 20 years, was recognised during the graduation ceremony of Senior Staff Course 40, which took place at AFCSC Jaji Friday.

He said that Oyenusi also won four additional awards, namely: the Best in Tri-Service Terms, Best Commandant’s Paper, Best Director’s Paper in the Directorate of Air Warfare (DAW) and the First in order of Merit in DAW.

He said the senior NAF officer, who is a C-130H aircraft pilot, holds 2 Masters degrees; one in Aerospace Vehicle Design and the other in Safety Engineering, both from two different universities in the United Kingdom – Cranfield University and University of Aberdeen, respectively.

“It is equally worthy of note that, in order of merit, 5 NAF officers were in the top 6 positions, ahead of their Army and Naval counterparts, at the end of the course. In addition to Squadron Leader Oyenusi, who came first, Squadron Leaders Austin Idoko, Hakeem Sarki and Chinedu Mbam occupied the second, third and fourth positions overall while Squadron Leader Fulus Kaze emerged sixth overall,” he stated.

AFCSC is a Joint Service institution established to produce operational-level military officers of the highest professional standard as well as to ensure standardisation of Staff Duties in the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Adesanya noted that the Senior Staff Course, in particular, is aimed at preparing selected officers of the rank of major and equivalent in the armed forces for higher responsibilities both in staff and command appointments.

Speaking, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the Graduation Ceremony, restated the Federal Government’s commitment to prioritise the training of Armed Forces personnel, noting that they remain the bastion of national unity.

Buhari also congratulated the graduating students and charged them to apply the knowledge they had acquired to make honest and useful contributions to national development.

Earlier, the Commandant AFCSC, Air Vice Marshal Lawal Alao, said that the graduands of Senior Course 40 comprised 182 officers from the Nigerian Armed Forces, relevant Federal Government institutions and 11 sister African countries.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, speaking after the event, stated that he was very delighted with the performance of NAF officers.

He added that he was especially pleased with Squadron Leader Oyenusi’s record-breaking achievement, which reflected the three core values of the NAF namely “Integrity first, Service before self and Excellence in all we do’’.

Abubakar then promised that the current leadership of the NAF would sustain efforts at human capacity building as tangible dividends were being yielded for enhanced professional performance.

Also present at the ceremony were the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Minister for Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd), Minister of Interior, Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (RTD), as well as that of Budget and Planning, Service Chiefs, Inspector General of Police, senior serving and retired military officers and other dignitaries.

El-Rufai donated a plot of land to the NAF senior officer and also conferred the honorary citizenship of Kaduna on him, in recognition of his excellent performance.

• Culed from THISDAY report