From John Adams, Minna
The Wife of the Chief of Army Staff and President, Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA), Mrs Salamatu Faruk Yahaya has said that she is worried about the plight of widows across Military Barack in the country, saying that NAOWA under her leadership has began Entrepreneurship Training for the widows to enable them cope with the present reality.
She said the entrepreneurship training for the widows which is already in full gear in Abuja and other Barack in the country, has trained thousands of widows of soldiers who died in the line of duty across the country.
The Wife of the Chief of Army Staff disclosed this in Minna on Wednesday at the Commissioning of multimillion naira Nursery and Primary Schools built by the Association at the Minna Military Cantonment, Niger State.
She said in addition to the training scheme, education of the children who lost their father remains a priority for in its little way, and therefore schools owned by NAOWA, including newly commissioned one in Minna have been subsidized for children whose fathers had died in the line of duty to facilitate their access to quality education and stop their drop out of school.
According to the NAOWA President, the newly built Nursery and Primary school in Minna was being Commissioned 14 years after the foundation was laid, saying that “it is better late than never”.
She therefore called on the NAOWA, Minna Cantonment for proper maintenance of the facility, stressing that “that is the only way we can show our little concern for these children whose fathers have paid the supreme prize protecting their country.
Mrs Yahaya pointed out as a way of further empowering their own, the association had employed over 2,000 employees across all its establishments in the country with over 60 percent emphasis on women as key players in nation building.
She later donated instructional materials, including computer, Television, Standby generator, among other things worth millions of naira to the school to aid Teaching and learning among the children.
Earlier, the Niger State Coordinator of NAOWA and Wife of the Commander, Training and Doctrine Command of the Nigeria Army, Minna, Mrs Yemisi Elizabeth Olabanji, said the school which currently had 100 pupils and 12 qualified teachers was established to among others support the Orphans of the fallen heroes so that they don’t drop out of school as a result of death of their fathers who were killed in the line of Duty.
She said NAOWA recognised the importance of quality education to the lives of children, hence the motive behind the establishment of the school in order to Carter for educational needs of children within and outside the barracks.
