The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, has charged operatives of the Nigerian Air Force to show no mercy to terrorists in the fight against insurgency in Nigeria.

Amao gave the charge on Tuesday when he met with frontline Air Officers Commanding and Air Component Commanders at the NAF Base in Kaduna State.

In a statement released and signed on Wednesday by NAF’s Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore, Edward Gabkwet, the CAS tasked the operational Commanders in the various theatres of operation across the country to ensure they employ maximum firepower against terrorists posing security threats in the country.

“While commending them for their efforts as well as the improved synergy with sister Services and other security agencies, Air Marshal Amao also underscored the need for effective allocation and utilization of all NAF platforms deployed for operations in the Northwest and Northcentral for enhanced operational effectiveness. Doing so, according to the CAS, will deny the terrorists freedom of movement while boosting the confidence of the populace and ensuring a peaceful country.

Speaking further, the CAS noted that though the security environment remains fluid and uncertain with terrorists moving between the northeast, northwest and north central, the need to continually modify NAF’s air power strategies to stay ahead of the asymmetric and unconventional nature of terrorists’ activities is of paramount importance.

“We have a responsibility to secure our nation and give our citizens a sense of hope, trust and belonging. Therefore, we must ensure that we stay ahead of the enemy and envisage his next line of action,” he added.

Amao then charged them to show no mercy against any terrorist and their accomplices while also denying them the freedom of movement and ease to cause mayhem against innocent Nigerians.

Gabkwet revealed that Amao assured the airmen “that training of more combat pilots, imagery analysts and other specialities in the NAF would continue to be of utmost priority so as to address the manpower challenges within the operation areas. He went on to state that efforts were at an advanced stage to procure more combat platforms for the NAF to meet the ever-increasing demands of air assets in various theatres of operations across the nation. Other issues addressed during the interface included the need to ensure a speedy procurement circle of aircraft spares to minimise aircraft downtime amongst other issues.”