4th May, 2018
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Thursday commenced the provision of free medical services to more than 500 people in Rigachikun, the first community that hosted it in 1963.
AVM Muhammad Idris, Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Air Training Command, Kaduna made the disclosure on Thursday in Kaduna at the commencement of the programme.
Idris said that the three-day medical outreach programme was a directive of the Chief of Air Staff, Sadiq Abubakar as part of the NAF 54th anniversary celebration.
“Rigachikun in Igabi local government had been the host of NAF since 1964 when it was established.
“The Air chief passion is to add value to our host community; he felt there is no way we will mark this 54th anniversary without reaching out to the host community,” Idris said.
AOC was represented by the Chief of Staff of the command, AVM Omotayo Ojeyemi.
He explained that the medical outreach programme involved the provision of medical consultation, Oral health care, preventive health, Eye tests and provision of glasses as well as drugs.
“Even though our medical facilities are available for them in the NAF base, we realize that most of them do not come for medical treatment, so we feel that we need to give out to the community that has been hosting us for 54 years.
“The host community will be exposed to what we have and further consultations and reference will be open to them.
“We programmed for 300 to 500 people, but you can see the number of people that are coming is beyond what we expected, so the aim and objective of the outreach is achieved.
“The gesture is to strengthen our relationship with our neighbours, and any treatment that is beyond the scope of the work will be referred to NAF medical base,” Idris added.
Earlier, the acting District Head of Rigachikun, Alhaji Shehu Umar commended the NAF for the gesture and pledged the cooperation of all community members for the success of the programme.
Activities marking the 54th anniversary of NAF would be rounded off in Kaduna on Saturday.