By March Oyinki
Crossroad Magazine
Nigerian Army will no longer face grueling hardship and long wait at the pension office after retirement. A $3.5 million U.S. grant is making it possible for retirees of the armed forces to receive adequate
training in management, computer skills, fish farming, soap making, welding, carpentry and a variety of other small scale trades that will empower them to earn a decent living as responsible members of society.
This change is the result of a collaborative program between theU.S. Department of Labor and the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Center (NAFRC), Oshodi. During his August 2001 visit to Nigeria,
former President Bill Clinton an-nounced a U.S. government program to revitalize the Resettlement Center through the U.S. Agency for International Development. Over the last four years, the U.S. government has provided funding averaging US$1 million annually for the upgrade of training equipment, provision of hostels and the introduction of new technology and livestock farming.
The Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos organized a media tour to showcase new developments at the complex. NAFRC Camp Commandant Air Vice Marshal Emmanuel Aquasua told reporters that “The center had been neglected seriously in the past several years, and until this life-line came, the institution was in a state of serious disrepair. Infrastructure had decayed seriously and the finances to keep the institution worthy of its name were not there.”
With funding from the United States government, and technical support from Aurora Associates international (a U.S. based consultancy firm over-seeing the NAFRC project in Nigeria), the center can now possesses state of the art HIV/AIDS screening equipment. The center also has a well-equipped computer training school that is fully air-conditioned.
During the tour of the complex, the president of Aurora Associates International Jim Statman, showed reporters one of four power generating plants provided by the U.S. Government to help boost power supply to the center. “We are also constructing a new hostel building to provide accommodation for the trainees of the center,” said Statman.
“One very remarkable thing is that every cent spent in this center is accounted for, and in all the years we have been here, not a single missing item has been recorded. This is so because adequate protective measures are put in place to secure the equipment before they are released for use,” he added.
When one of the reporters during a question and answer session asked if there is any possibility for a Nigerian firm to take over the management of the project from Aurora Associates International, Major Abdulahi Musa, Public Relations Officer of the Center said a decision will be taken by the appropriate authories at the right time.
