Sultan wants armed forces retirement age extended

-Sultan wants retirement age for the Nigerian Armed Forces reviewed upwards.

-He stressed their years and wealth of experience would be useful for the country.

-He also commended the armed forces for their dedication to duty.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has made a call on the need for the federal government to initiate an upward review for the years of service of officers and men of the Nigerian Armed forces so the country can further benefit from their wealth of experience.

The Sultan said this in Abuja, yesterday, at a dinner held to mark the re-union of Nigerian Defence Academy Alumni, 18 Regular Course held at Army Headquarters Command Officers Mess, Asokoro, Abuja.

Abubakar said: ‘‘When it comes to retirement age of officers in the armed forces, we are not doing the right thing because we need to tap more from their wealth of experience, having spent so much on them.

‘‘When they get to 55 to 60 they are gone. We have gone round the world, seen generals in their 60s, 65 with grey hairs. Even with our grey hairs, we are not too old to serve Nigeria. ‘‘It is important we mobile other people to start talking to government to allow our generals to reach at least 65 years before they leave service, because government invests so much resources to train them without replacement.”

“Let’s expand, Nigeria is so big to lose these experiences. It is important we look at this.’’

The Sultan, appreciated the contributions of the military in keeping the country safe and united, stressing they deserve commendation, rather than condemnation.

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‘‘We must celebrate our military and praise them for its role in keeping peace in the North East, South Eater and South South Regions of the country.

“We must continue to praise and thank armed forces for what they are doing for our country because without them we wouldn’t have been where we are.”

‘‘I think it is important that we continue to celebrate our military because they have done a lot for this country and we are very proud of them. But they still have a lot to do, they shouldn’t just relax because the job is not yet over, we are just starting.”

‘‘The Commander in Chief also deserve this commendation for ensuring steadfastness of the military, whether in the North East, South East, South South, South West of this country.

‘‘One thing we should know is that, once, there is any emergency, the military is free to go there and keep peace.”