Air Vice Marshal AVM Hassan Bala Abubakar has been appointed the 22nd Chief of the Air Staff by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Born on 11 September 1970, AVM Hassan Abubakar hails from Shanono Local Government Area of Kano State. He enlisted into the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) as a member of the Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course 39 and was commissioned Pilot Officer on 19 September 1992.
AVM Abubakar has attended several courses, among which are Ab-initio and Basic Flying Training Courses at the then 301 Flying Training School, Kaduna; Basic and Advance Airborne Courses at the Nigerian Army Infantry Centre and School, Jaji; and Company Amphibious Operations Course at the Nigerian Army Infantry Centre and School, Calabar.
Others include Junior and Senior Command and Staff Courses at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College Jaji, and National Defence Course at the Nasser Higher Military Academy, Cairo, Egypt.
Previous appointments held by the CAS include Officer Commanding ‘B’ Squadron (Do 228), 81 Air Maritime Group NAF Benin; Team Leader MILOB Team Site 615 Mahagi (Ituri Brigade) United Nations Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC); and Aviation Planning Officer, MONUC Air Operations Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. He was the Commanding Officer of Base Services Wing 81 Air Maritime Group Benin, and later served at different times at the 88 Military Airlift Group, Ikeja, where he held various appointments, including Operations Officer Operational Conversion Unit, Operations Officer, Commanding Officer 21 Wing, and Group Safety Officer.
Furthermore, he was Fleet Operation Officer 011 Presidential Air Fleet and thereafter served as the Commander of the Unit. His other appointments include Chief of Staff, Mobility Command, Yenagoa; Air Officer Commanding Logistics Command, Ikeja, as well as Director of Policy, and Director of Operations, both at the Headquarters Nigerian Air Force, Abuja.
Dominica Nwabufo
