114 military personnel for retirement BY PHILIP NWOSU The Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC) said it has concluded training for 114 military personnel already billed to retire from the service of the force. The Commandant of the Centre Air Vice Marshal Moses Akinsanmi said of the 114, 50 were from the Nigerian Army, 53, from the Nigerian Navy while 11 came from the Nigerian Air Force. He spoke while addressing journalists on the pass out parade for the centre, explaining that out of the 114, one of the retiring trainee was withdrawn due to ill-health. He also revealed that the NAFRC has constituted a governing board to help push its demands within government quarters. AVM Akinsanmi said that the governing board which constitute the Minister of Defence as Chairman and the Service Chief as members provides for it the platform to present its matter before the service chiefs in single arena. He said that until now the centre had been going individually to the service chiefs to make their demand known, adding that the board is beneficial to the centre as it will enable it to seek assistance collectives from the services. AVM Akinsanmi also revealed that at least 40,000 military personnel had passed through its pre-retirement training programme since the centre was floated. According to him, some personnel have acquired some skills during their service. These, he said, would only need reinforcement by the centre in order to add value to what they had learnt. Akinsanmi said, “We ensure the training are relevant and those already with skills have the opportunity of acquiring entrepreneurial and managerial expertise. “The training programme is meant to integrate the retiring military personnel into civil society and enjoy post-service life. “Effort is being made to expand the scope of participation of commissioned officers, who have hitherto been excluded from the pre-retirement training.” Asked if the centre provide incentives in terms of loans to the trainees after the programme, the commandant explained that such facility did not exist yet because the personnel were expected to use their gratuity and savings to establish their own businesses. “But we are working towards expanding the scope of the training. We are reviewing the programme to see if we can partner with organisations to provide soft loans,” he said. The commandant lamented insufficient gratuity for the retirees, adding that this insufficient gratuity had prevented the retired personnel from practising what they were taught. He revealed that the officers’ programme which was initiated two years ago was on course, especially as it has trained over 200 officers on the programme.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:58:09 +0000
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