Ten officers of the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps (NAAC) have retired from active service after serving the required number of years.
LEADERSHIP Friday reports that the officers’exit, comprising six Major-Generals and four Brigadier-Generals, comes barely a day after Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant-General Taoreed Lagbaja commissioned the newly constructed complex headquarters of the Nigerian Army Armoured Corps at Obienu Barracks, Bauchi.
The retiring officers included reviewing 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-Generals A. Israel, Brigadier-General BA Mohammed, Brigadier-General D. Abdulsalam and Brigadier-General SP Akpan.
Ojiji expressed gratitude that the tradition has been kept and came to their turn, urging that it should be kept on.
“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 decried poor equipment grading, especially in formations and units, hence the need to address the challenge for effective and greater service delivery to the nation.
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.“
Also, the commandant of the Armoured Corps, Major General Mohammed Ahmed, said, „I feel grateful, satisfied, and highly honoured to have witnessed a day that was filled with mixed feelings and emotions of the pulling out of the retired senior officers.“
He added, „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.“
Ahmed added, „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.“
He wished all the retired Army Armoured Corps officers well in their future civilian endeavours, urging them always to make themselves readily available for consultations and helpful advice on improving the Armoured Corps.