General
Source: The Moment
Basking in the euphoria of her commissioning, the Nigerian first military pilot says she is fit and ready to excel.
Nigerian first female military pilot, Blessing Liman, has assured that she would not let the nation down.
Liman said she was ready to reciprocate the confidence being reposed on her by the nation and President Goodluck Jonathan upon her commission as the first female combatant military pilot among 126 Direct Short Service Course 20/2011of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).
Speaking to The Moment on Sunday shortly after her passing out parade and commissioning ceremony at the Nigerian Air Force Base in Kaduna Friday December 9, Liman however admitted that as the only female cadet among the 125 others male cadets, the training she underwent had been very challenging.
'As a first female pilot I would want to make a mark that would encourage other females to join the military because I believe that all females have equal opportunity to exercise their rights in whatever they choose to do, I believe that all female Nigerians who choose to become pilots can do it since I have done it,' she said.
Liman re-affirmed her readiness to work side by side her male counterparts in the Armed Forces and to make the nation proud.
The chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammad Dikko Umar who spoke to The Moment on Sunday in Kaduna also disclosed that, 'among other new issues coming in the transformation is the recruitment for recruits into the Nigerian Airforce which would henceforth involve two streams instead of the normal one stream of just 500 recruits, next year it will be increased to 1000 recruits. So we expect that the service will grow higher and will be more responsive to the challenges facing the country.'
He however stated that producing a first female pilot is in line with President Jonathans national transformation agenda, of which the Nigeria Airforce cannot be left out of.
'The president has specifically directed that the Nigerian Airforce must produce a female pilot within one year and that is what we have done. We are very pleased that she has graduated today and we are going to set her and put her in the right aircraft so that she can fly for this nation,' Umar said.