From Molly Kilete, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has ordered the immediate payment of all pending Group Life Assurance owed to the Next of Kins of families of soldiers killed in action.
This is just as the President have also directed the Armed Forces and other security agencies to end the insecurity in the country in the shortest possible time.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, who made this known, said, already the Nigerian Army have established some Special Forces units with specially trained personnel to tackle various security challenges across the country.
He further stated that the Special Forces units have continued to record tremendous successes through intelligence-led operations and the use of special equipment.
Gen Lagbaja, spoke when he declared open the combined 2nd and 3rd Quarter Chief Of Army Staff Conference 2023, holding at the Army Headquarters Command Officers Mess Abuja.
According to the COAS, ”The Federal Government has a scheme called the Group lLife Assurance. It is an insurance scheme designed to give succour to families of our departed heroes.
He said, “This scheme works in such a way that the government pays premiums to the insurance companies and in the event of death the insurance companies pay claims to the families of our departed heroes.
”However, we have a backlog between 2012 and 2022, when claims were not paid. And some people died in the cause of service to the nation. So, the insurance companies who are at the liberty of paying the premium are not paying, and that is why the Federal Government has taken it upon itself to discharge that backlog and bring relief to the families of our departed heroes.”
The army chief who used the occasion to launch his vision and mission statement for the Nigerian army, said troops’ welfare and that of their families would continue to remain predominant to him as COAS.
On insecurity, Lagbaja, while charging field commanders to ensure the maintenance of sophisticated platforms and equipment procured by the army, in order to prolong their life span and enable the nation to optimize its investment.
The army chief who said the activities of Operation HADIN KAI in the North East have drastically reduced the activities of Boko Haram terrorists and other criminal groups, said it is the reason for the mass surrender of terrorists and submission of a large cache of arms and ammunition.
He said the conference would afford participants the opportunity to evaluate the conduct of ongoing Nigerian Army (NA) operations, training and other activities in pursuit of its constitutional mandate and enable the Nigerian Army to make projections for the fourth quarter, as well as comprehensively review ongoing counter-terrorism counter-insurgency operations in the North East and North West and other Nigerian Army operational engagements across the country.
The weeklong conference is being attended by Principal Staff Officers(PSOs), at the Army Headquarters, General Officers Commanding(GOCs), Corps, Formations, Operations Commanders, Commandants of Nigerian Army Schools, and Tri-service Institutions, as well as select army officers holding key appointments.