Mu’azu expressed the government position on Thursday while inspecting renovation of barracks at the Nigerian Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Minna.
She said President Goodluck Johnathan was concerned about the welfare of the Nigerian Armed Forces by providing them with decent accommodation, hence the reason for the intervention to renovate the barracks.
According to her, the timely release of funds will go a long way in realising the President’s objective to make sure that the armed forces are well catered for.
She added that “we are more than ever committed because we have been mandated to do this, we have no option,
“We have come here with the armed forces to see how best we can do this at a cost-effective base.’’
The chairman, however, said that a special intervention outside the budgetary allocation would go a long in assisting in the renovation of some of the barracks that were in bad shape.
“But we feel that to achieve this laudable objective as a way of intervention, a special kind of intervention has become imperative.
“This is to ensure that we are not just doing a piece meal approach on the renovation of the barracks.
“What we did was to start with the worst ones and restore them to a functional state.’’
Mu’azu said the six blocks already rehabilitated at TRADOC, Minna, would take care of 72 families.
She noted that the PCBR was also renovating six blocks of Corporal Below Quarters (CBQ) to accommodate 12 families.
Maj.-Gen. Salihu Uba, the Commandant of TRADOC, Minna, said he was happy with the intervention by the Federal Government
Uba said the Army had realised that there was need to relieve some of the problems of barrack accommodation.
“What we expect the presidential committee on barracks rehabilitation to do now is to increase the tempo because we are many in Minna, as you know that training and doctrine command is one of the senior most commands in Nigeria.
“The level of dilapidation has gone beyond maintenance, but once they are fixed, we will definitely maintain them.’’
On insurgency, Uba said that a lot of policies were on as the army was re-strategising, adding that a lot had been done.
“We have done a lot and we are still doing a lot, we are studying the situation and we are responding appropriately,” he said.
One of the occupants of the building, Mrs Sherifat Musa, commended the Federal Government for the intervention, saying they would be happy to move into the houses. (NAN)
