By SundiataPOST, Abuja
The Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim on Friday urged 135 newly-retired military personnel to embrace the challenge of their new lives with courage.
The CDS made the remark when he addressed the retirees who have just completed their six-month intensive pre-retirement training at the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC), Oshodi, Lagos.
Ibrahim said that the training was uniquely designed to facilitate their re-integration into productive civillian life.
“The 135 of you graduating today have no doubt undergone a life-changing experience that I am optimistic you will find very useful as you settle down into retirement life.
“Let me emphasise here that the phase you are entering into by the completion of your training and indeed exit from a familiar life in the military, to a less familiar civilian life, is very crucial,” he said.
The CDS, who was represented by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, said that with the rigours of post-service life, a lot of challenges would come their way.
“These would range from inadequate funds to pursue your post retirement aspirations, to the change in attitude of friends and family, due to change of status.
“In between also, you will experience the test of managing your mental and physical health, the problem of residential accommodation, where to finally settle down and the dilemma of what best to do with your retirement benefits.
“All these challenges are real and will hit you as soon as you step out of the gates of this centre.
“I am confident that these are issues tackled in your training and thus you are adequately equipped to deal with them effectively,” he said.
Ibrahim stated that there was no doubt that they were retiring at a time that the nation needed their services the most, adding that their experiences would no doubt be missed.
“Let us unite in our humanity and the fact that we have all worked hard for a good life for ourselves and the generations yet unborn.
“In this line also, I urge you to continue to see yourselves as the ambassadors for your respective services and the armed forces, at large.
“You should be prepared to render more selfless service to the nation, whenever you are called upon, even in retirement,” he added.
The commandant of the centre, Air Vice Marshal Moses Akinsanmi, said that the retirees would receive their retirement benefits personally, not through a next of kin and urged them to use it wisely.
Akinsanmi assured the retiring officers that the training they have gone through at the centre was a vital platform to enable them to be able to establish any business in post-retirement life.
