THE Nigerian Army Veterans have called for a review of the retirement age of serving personnel with a view to maximising the potentials of specialists.
The veterans made the call on Friday in a communiqué issued at the end of the First Quarter Year 2023 Veterans Affairs Seminar/Workshop held in Calabar.
The communiqué was read by Col. Victor Ibeh, Deputy Director, Veterans Affairs Directorate, Army Headquarters, Abuja. The workshop was organised for retired Army personnel and those that are about to retire.
Ibeh said the participants encouraged the Nigerian Army veterans to build good relationship with their families as part of the pre-retirement plans. He said they also urged the serving personnel to cultivate savings culture for successful retirement plans.
Ibeh added that the veterans were tasked to engage in community services and respect community influencers to earn respect in their respective localities. He noted that the veterans were urged to form cooperative societies to facilitate access to soft loans.
“Participant of the workshop agreed to the review of retirement age of service to maximize the potential of specialists.
“The Nigerian Army should sustain employment of veterans in overall training and other specialize services as a way of tapping from their wealth of experience in support of Nigerian Army training and operations.
“There is the need for the Federal Government to capture veterans’ activities and programmes in its annual budget.
“Serving personnel were advised to relate well with Nigerian Army veterans for mutual collaboration and support military operations,” he said.
Speaking, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, said that the call for a review of the retirement age of serving personnel would be deliberated upon by the Army hierarchy.
The Chief of Army Staff was represented by Maj. Gen. Abubakar Bello, Director, Veterans Affairs Division, Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
He said that the workshop was held with a view to seeing how the Armed Forces can use the veterans to assist them in operations and other capacity-building activities.
“The call for a review of retirement age is a policy issue that would be considered on its merit; it could be, or could not be considered. These are issues that are far beyond and a decision cannot be taken at this moment. There is a need for veterans and others to interact; that is why we hold this seminar regularly to bridge the gap between serving and retired personnel.
“We are sure that the communiqué will get the desired attention at the highest level based on its own merit. Other considerations will have to come into play like terms and condition of service of personnel and others.
“At this stage, it is immature to come out with any figure for the proposed retirement age,” he said. (NAN)
