The Federal Government has mandated the Nigerian Armed
Forces and other security agencies to eradicate insurgency and other acts of
criminality bedevilling the country.
This was disclosed at the weekend, by the Chairman, House of
Representative Committee on Defence, Babajimi
Benson, during an interview with journalists, at the Passing Out Ceremony of the Nigerian
Armed Forces Resettlement Centre Trainees Course 2/2021, held at the
resettlement centre, Oshodi, Lagos.
To meet this deadline, he disclosed that payment had been
made for inventories, both software and hardware. He also disclosed that the proposed Armed
Forces Support Trust Fund would go a long way to providing needed platforms to
eradicate insurgency and its likes in Nigeria.
According to him, “There is a March 2022 deadline for Armed
Forces to eradicate all these insurgents and the likes. Payments have been made
for inventories, both software and hardware, it will take time for them to come
into Nigeria.
“The Armed Forces support trust fund was moved by me, it is
my bill and we are currently at the 3rd phase which means that we want to
consider a report that we wrote, then we will sign up and send it to the Senate
for concurrence.
When we resumed we worked on the PIB, electoral act, very
soon we will get to that bill”.
He attributed poverty and climate change, which he said
forced herders to move their cattle from the North to the South, to the main
cause of insecurity in the country.
To address this, he said,” We, the political leaders, have
to fashion out economic development programs that would stop the breathing of
people who are indoctrinated to do bad things. The government is trying to
uplift 100 million people out of poverty. The plans are ongoing.
The Federal government has about 870 projects that are going
on at the same time. So in the fullness of time, insecurity will be reduced by
economic activities”
He however kicked against amnesty for repentant Boko Haram
members, saying, “People who have perpetrated crimes, those who I call
terrorists should not be given amnesty, the full wrath of the law should be
melted out on them”.
The retirees are going into civil society and we have a lot
of intelligence that they can give us to assist us in fighting insurgents. We
want them to work for us as a source of intelligence and also try to sensitize
the community on what the service has been and why society needs to support us.
Also speaking with
journalists, Chief of the Air
Staff, Air Marshal Isiaka Amao, said
that the 350 retiring servicemen who underwent 12 weeks of intensive training,
assist the Armed Forces in intelligence gathering as they retire back to
civilian life.
He said, “The retirees are going into civil society and we
have a lot of intelligence that they can give us to assist us in fighting
insurgents. We want them to work for us as a source of intelligence and also
try to sensitize the community on what the service has been and why the society
needs to support us”.
Admonishing the graduates, the CAS said, “The contemporary
global economic and national security climate is dynamic and presents peculiar
challenges for post-service life now and in the foreseeable future.
Bearing this in mind, I enjoin the graduating trainees to
leverage all the knowledge, skills and expertise you have acquired over the
last 12 weeks and during your meritorious service to our beloved nation.
Remember that no knowledge is a waste! There is no doubt
that alongside entrepreneurial training and vocational skills acquisition, the
virtues of discipline, integrity and patriotism which are fundamental to our
national and defence development, have been reinforced throughout every phase
of your course in this institution and during your respective Service lives.
I, therefore, encourage you all to henceforth, harness the
skills and expertise obtained during their training to lead productive lives
that will engender societal progress and national socio-economic development.
Earlier in his
welcome address, the Commandant, NAFRC, Air Vice Marshal Adamu Idris, explained
that the Passing Out Ceremony formally
marked the successful completion of another Servicemen Pre-Discharge Course.
The servicemen were made up of 350 trainees comprising 261
trainees from the Nigerian Army, 43 trainees from the Nigerian Navy, and 46
trainees from the Nigerian Air Force, according to him.
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