COVID-19: NAF airlifts medical materials from Lagos to Abuja

The Nigerian Air Force on Wednesday said it has airlifted medical materials donated by the Jack Ma Foundation in China from The Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja for combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, who made the disclosure in a statement, said that the airlifting of the predicament was in fulfilment of “the NAF’s role of providing Military Aid to CIvil Authority”.

According to the statement, “the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), on 24 March 2020, airlifted medical materials donated by the Jack Ma Foundation, China, for tackling the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria, from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport(NAIA), Abuja in fulfilment of the NAF’s roles of providing Military Aid to Civil Authority (MACA).

“The donated medical materials, which consist of 107 boxes of medical supplies and equipment, comprising surgical masks, medical disposable protective clothing, face shields and detection kits, weighing about 3,000 pounds, were airlifted in a single mission using the NAF C-130 Hercules aircraft (NAF 913) and handed over by the NAF Aircrew to a delegation from the Federal Ministry of Health led by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Abdulazeez Mashi Abdullahi, today, 25 March 2020, at the NAIA, Abuja”.

It added further that, “speaking to the press after inspecting the delivered items, Alhaji Abdullahi thanked the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, for the timely deployment of aircraft to airlift the items to Abuja.

“He also expressed appreciation to the NAF officers and men who participated in the airlift mission for their professional conduct. He said the donated items would go a long way in supporting the Government’s efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the Country.

“The NAF leadership has also expressed the readiness of the Service to provide any form of support within its statutory responsibility of providing aid to civil authority as the Nation continues to work assiduously to deal with the threat posed by COVID-19”.