Armed Forces Retires 464, Trains Military Retirees for Post-service Life

Chiemelie Ezeobi

The military under the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC) has said 464 military personnel from the three arms of the armed forces have been trained and would be eased out of service to rejoin the civil life as retirees.

The 464 crop of military retirees will join other 40,500 personnel of the Nigerian Armed Forces, who have in the past benefited from military sponsored vocational training courses between 1945, when the centre was established, and 2016.

NAFRC Commandant, Air Vice Marshal (AVM), Mike Iloenyosi, who made this disclosure at a press briefing to flag off the graduation ceremony of trainees course 1/2016, said all the retirees were drawn from the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force.

Breaking down the figures, he said of the 464 personnel, 449 were drawn from the Army, two from the Navy and 13 from the Air Force, adding that soon those of the officer cadre will join up in the course.

He said, “From the records available, about 40,500 ex-servicemen have been trained since its inception in 1945. Furthermore, concerted efforts have been embarked upon to expand the scope of participation of commissioned officers. In this regard, NAFRC hopes to introduce managerial and entrepreneurship training for officers.”
Although it is still evolving, officers had been trained by the Centre in partnership with EMPRETEC and the PAN Atlantic University. However, the training had been discontinued due to paucity of funds.

Iloenyosi also said the PAN Atlantic University (Lagos Business School) has also been providing Managerial Entrepreneurship skills to the officers of the Armed Forces under the scheme, adding that the management team of the centre hopes to revive the training.

Stressing that the centre was a vocational training institution set up to ensure smooth transition for retiring military personnel, Iloenyosi said the trainees were equipped with skills and trades that could power them for a productive after service life.
On the lectures they received in the six weeks of training, he said the training was geared towards profitable self-sustainability and easy integration into the civil populace.