Nigerian Air Force Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke concluded a two-day operational tour of Niger Delta formations on Friday with a courtesy visit to the Niger Delta Development Commission headquarters in Port Harcourt, commending the commission’s infrastructure support to NAF and other security agencies while formally requesting NDDC intervention to provide accommodation for air force personnel serving across five South-South cities.

The visit to Port Harcourt followed a strategic visit to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on March 4, during which Aneke commissioned major infrastructure projects and inaugurated the School of Administration and Management, a new training institution deliberately relocated from Kaduna State to the Niger Delta as a mark of appreciation for NDDC’s contributions to the force’s facilities in the region.

The Bayelsa leg included a courtesy call on Governor Douye Diri, at which Aneke emphasised the importance of sustained civil-military cooperation in safeguarding the Niger Delta, describing his return to Yenagoa as particularly significant given his previous posting there as Air Officer Commanding Mobility Command.

At the NDDC headquarters, Aneke was received by NDDC Governing Board Chairman Chiedu Ebie and Managing Director Dr Samuel Ogbuku alongside a delegation that included Air Vice Marshal E. Onyebashi and Air Vice Marshal M. Ekwueme. Aneke described the commission’s material contributions to NAF operations in specific terms: the provision and installation of solar-powered street lights across communities in the region, the supply of 713 solar inverters enhancing safety and operational efficiency, and the donation of a multi-purpose facility at Kolo-Otuoke in Bayelsa State.

“In that facility, we now have one of the Administrative and Management Schools, the physical education and skills acquisition centre, and a host of other centres which were deliberately relocated from Kaduna State as a mark of appreciation to the commission’s efforts,” he said.

Aneke noted that the NDDC’s foundational mandate of socio-economic development in the Niger Delta aligned directly with the Nigerian Air Force’s operational mandate to provide a secure environment for national growth. He said the School of Administration and Management at Kolo-Otuoke was already open not only to NAF personnel but to Nigerians, foreign nationals, and interested NDDC staff seeking to acquire administrative, management, and skills training. He appealed to the commission’s board to consider rehabilitating and equipping Internally Displaced Persons centres with modern facilities to enable them serve as training hubs, an initiative that would extend the commission’s development model into communities still recovering from years of instability.

Aneke sought NDDC’s intervention in providing accommodation for air force personnel serving in Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Benin, Asaba, and Warri, a formal request that, if addressed, would represent one of the most direct applications yet of the civil-military cost-sharing model the two institutions have been building since Ogbuku’s appointment.

Read Also: Nigerian Airforce Soldiers Held In Burkina Faso Arrive Ghana

Housing for NAF personnel in South-South cities has been a persistent constraint on operational continuity in the region, with posted officers frequently dependent on private rental markets in cities where accommodation costs have risen sharply alongside the oil economy’s recovery.

Ogbuku received the requests and reaffirmed NDDC’s commitment to deepening the partnership.

“Terrorism is like a virus, and if not curtailed, will spread to other parts of the country. But I want to commend the Nigerian Air Force because, since you assumed office, you have risen to the challenges posed by insecurity. What we do here in the Niger Delta is to support you, because there can be no development without peace, and we need this collaboration,” he said. He highlighted the NDDC’s Operation Light Up the Niger Delta initiative, which he said had illuminated communities across the region, reducing criminality and stimulating economic activity in areas where the absence of public lighting had historically provided cover for criminal operations. Ogbuku commended the NAF for maintaining facilities donated by the commission and appreciated the force for allowing NDDC staff to benefit from training at the School of Administration and Management.

Read Also: NDDC Commits To Finishing 21-Km Imo-Abia-Rivers Link Road

The tour was part of Aneke’s ongoing nationwide visit to NAF formations and operational theatres across the country aimed at assessing combat readiness, improving personnel welfare, and strengthening the partnerships the force considers critical to national security. The Niger Delta leg carried particular operational significance given the region’s centrality to Nigeria’s oil revenues, the Niger Delta’s history of militant activity, and the recent improvement in security indicators. NDDC’s broader security partnership extends beyond the NAF to include the 16 Brigade in Bayelsa, a major army base project in Warri, and the donation of a naval base jetty, gunboats, and houseboats to the Nigerian Navy at Ayakoro and Ayama communities in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The Nigerian Navy recently launched Operation Sentinel, aimed at securing crude oil exploration, production, and transportation, with the NUPRC targeting a production increase to 2.5 million barrels per day by 2027.

Aneke is also overseeing the fast-tracked acquisition of 12 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters from Bell Textron through the United States Foreign Military Sales programme, following a Programme Management Review meeting he led in San Diego in January 2026. The helicopters, once delivered, are expected to significantly enhance the NAF’s close air support and interdiction capability in the Niger Delta and across other active operational theatres including the North-East, North-West, and North-Central zones.

No timeline was given for the NDDC’s response to the accommodation request for air force personnel across the five South-South cities.

The Eastern Updates