On Thursday the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has told retired senior military officers that their wealth of experience is urgently needed in order to tackle security challenges facing the country.
Irabor made this disclosure during an interactive session with retired senior officers from the South West zone held at 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Odogbo, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital,
He noted that there are no other groups to engage at this time to end insecurity apart from the retired soldiers.
Our correspondent reports that the meeting had in attendance the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 2 Division Nigerian Army, Major General Gold Chibuisi, Chief of Defence Civil Military Corporation, Rear Admiral Fredrick Ogu and retired senior military officers from the states across the South West.
Irabor, who praised the retired soldiers for playing their part to defend the country while in service, maintained that the country still needs the wealth of experience garnered by the retired soldiers.
“As members of the Nigerian armed forces, you know that our constitutional role is to protect the territorial sovereignty of the country, which you have done.
“We face security challenges mostly from internal factors, these factors may have external input,” he said.
“From the wealth of your experience, there is no better group that can be engaged better than you.
“You are mostly qualified and knowledgeable. This is the reason we brought you here.
“So, let me thank you for honoring our invitation. We are here to rub minds together.”
Chibuisi in his welcome address, noted that the meeting was necessary in view of the security challenges in the country.
“This is the maiden interaction of CDS with retired senior military officers in a way to find lasting solutions to the current security challenges in the country.
“Banditry, kidnapping, Boko Haram insurgency, armed robberies, these necessitated the need to address the trend,” he said.
