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Despite the escalation of insurgency in the country, ten officers of the Nigerian Army, all on the ranks of a general, have retired from active service after successfully serving out their required number of years.
The Generals, from the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps (NAAC), comprise six Major-Generals and four Brigadier-Generals.
They include: Major-General Nsor Okpa Ojiji, Major-General MH Magaji, Major-General GB Audu, Major-General M Danmadami, Major-General JG Mohammed and Major-General UI Mohammed.
Others are Brigadier-General A. Israel, Brigadier-General BA Mohammed, Brigadier-General D. Abdulsalam and Brigadier-General SP Akpan.
Speaking on behalf of the others who were also pulled out of service, Ojiji expressed delight at being able to complete the years of active service successfully and commended the Army leadership for the roles played.
He, however, appealed that more be done for those still in service to make them perform optimally in the service of the nation.
“We recall that the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps (NAAC) has a lot of challenges, which range from poor accommodation to inadequate professional and medical facilities, amongst a myriad of others.
“Today, however, I am happy to note that there are many very functional accommodation blocks; even the ambience of these barracks is very welcoming. Many resources and efforts have changed the situation. This is heartwarming.
“Kudos to commander NAAC, his team of officers, soldiers, and their families, who are determined together that things must improve in the corps,” he said.
Ojiji highlighted the need to address poor equipment grading, especially in formations and units and appealed to the Minister of Defence to look into it.
He added, “We hope that the minister of defence, Alhaji Badaru Abubakar, also make this his cardinal objective during his tenure. I plead with the Hon. Minister through this medium to deem it fit to do so.“
On his part, the commandant of the Armoured Corps, Major General Mohammed Ahmed, congratulated the retired officers, wished them well in their future endeavours and urged them to make themselves readily available for consultations and helpful advice on improving the Armoured Corps.
“We are happy we did what we should do. We carry out a lot of services to the community, ranging from free medical services to the provision of pipe-borne water, among others, and if they tell us about their problems, we promptly attend to those problems.
“There is no army in the world that has enough, and the Nigerian Army has developed its capacity to the level that you can see in most of our equipment, which is highly maintained,” Ahmed said.