PHILIP NWOSU
Nigerian Army has said it remains committed to providing adequate welfare for its soldiers, especially those fighting in the North East.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai who made the commitment said for soldiers to perform optimally at the battlefront, their welfare and those of their families needed to be taken care of.
General Buratai who was represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division, Major General Musa Yusuf, said a good working environment especially in the area of decent accommodation for troops, remains the priority of the Nigerian Army.
General Buratai spoke while commissioning phase one of the renovated and reconstructed soldiers accommodation in Myhoung Barracks at the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Yaba, and an office block at the 81 Division Garrison in Obalande, said that the provision of comfortable rudimentary infrastructure and hygienic living condition increases the moral of personnel and their families, thereby reducing the risk of stress disorder.
The Army Chief lamented the dilapidated nature of the structures in the barracks, especially the Myhoung Barracks, explaining that he remained committed to providing the necessary funds to continue with the rest of the accommodation despite the economic constraints in the country.
He urged soldiers to maintain the accommodation so that the continuation of the projects and money spent would be justified, warning that the he would not tolerate the deterioration or dysfunction of the new blocks.
Earlier, the acting Corps Commander of the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, Colonel Samuel Adama emphasised the need for soldiers to live together in a barrack environment, saying that the absence of it results to a consequent deterioration in discipline, proficiency and unit cohesion.
He said that the Myhoung Barracks was ceded to the Nigerian Army by the Nigerian Railway Corporation and CFAO in 1968 when the force was sourcing for a location to site a hospital to cater for soldiers wounded in the civil war.
He said the barracks was occupied by medical practitioners caring for wounded soldiers then before it metamorphosed to what it is today.
Colonel Adama said that the renovation and reconstruction of the barrack would boost the morale of not only soldiers in Myhoung Barracks but all personnel of the Nigerian Army, especially those in the North East.