National University Commission should give the Nigerian Air Force approval to upgrade its Institute of Technology, Kaduna, from Diploma-awarding to Degree-awarding institution.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, made the request when he visited Executive Secretary of the Commission, Abubakar Rasheed, in Abuja, saying the institution was expected to run conventional courses as well as the core mandate of Nigerian Air Force including Air Force Logistics, Strategy and Policy Formulation.

Abubakar said the need for capacity-building through education, saying there was the need to move the institute to the next level.

According to him, Nigerian Air Force’s priority was to build capacity and to give education a priority, saying the Force had interacted closely with many universities, especially in the area of Research and Development.

He also said Nigerian Air Force had signed fifteen Memoranda of Understanding with some tertiary institutions in the country, and assured the Commission that the institute had all requirements for upgrading to degree awarding institution.

Abubakar congratulated the Commission for the good work it was doing in Nigeria’s universities, saying the Nigerian Air Force was a beneficiary of what the commission were doing.

Responding, Rasheed commended the air chief for his vision of developing human capacity, saying having more universities was a good development for the country.

According to him, as a commission, it was disposed to the necessity of more universities in Nigeria, saying forty-two universities were owned by the Federal Government, while seventy-five were private.

He said the commission was happy with the request by Nigerian Air Force to upgrade the institution to a degree-awarding institution, and assured that the Commission would work closely with the Force.