Army Improves Welfare Of Personnel, Families – Udounwa

ABUJA 

The Chief of Special Services and Programmesof the Nigerian Army, Major General Solomon Udounwa, has said that the Army has redoubled its efforts to enhance the well-being of its personnel and their families through welfare investment.

Udounwa spoke at the maiden Annual Command Guest House Stakeholders Conference 2022, organised by the Department of Special Services and Programmes on Thursday in Abuja.

He said such investment included command guest houses and other ventures.

Udounwa explained that the department was established in January with the mandate to ensure the efficient management of the guest houses among other roles and responsibilities.

He said that the Army Headquarters usually interacted with managements of command guest houses, though quarterly.

Udounwanoted that the meeting was where stakeholders with management presented briefs in respect of their facilitieswith a view to taking appropriate decisions to sustain their operations.

He said it had, however, been observed that the quarterly meeting did not provide a robust platform for interaction towards enhancing the performance of the guest houses due to several reasons including limited number of participants.

“To address this gap, the department sought to increase the participation of stakeholders by proposing a more elaborate annual conference.

“It was envisaged that the conference would provide a more appropriate avenue for interaction among the management of command guest houses, stakeholders, operators and professionals in the hospitality business.

“We are excited to have representatives from all command guest houses as well as hospitality industry operators, regulators and professionals to interact and offer an experience that would galvanise our zeal and interest,” he said.

Udounwa expressed confidence that the representatives would also provide viable options for effective and efficient service delivery to boost overall operations of the command guest houses.

In his speech, the Chief of Army Staff(COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, said the Army was ever ready to stand in harm’s way to accord Nigerians the safety, security and comfort that they deserve.

Represented by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian Army Welfare Limited by Guaranty, Major General Adekola Bakare, he said that Army would leave no stone unturned in building all its components of fighting power including welfare and administration of personnel.

Yahaya pledged to continue to provide leadership and guidance for the troops in the fight against perpetrators of insecurity in the country.

According to him, they were confident that with the acquisition of more equipment and platforms, the Army was well positioned to win the war against insurgency, banditry and other violent crimes in the country.

Yahayastated that the theme of the conference, “Repositioning the Nigerian Army Hospitality Endeavours for Enhanced Service Delivery,” was apt and within the set objectives of the establishment of command guest houses.

The COAS said the desire to establish the guest houses was borne out of the need to provide secured, affordable and reliable accommodation as part of efforts to cater for the welfare needs of Army personnel, members of the Armed Forces and the general public across Nigeria.

He pointed out that the facilities had, in no small measure, continued to offer subsidised guest accommodation, recreation and entertainment support to users and had undoubtedly achieved their set goals and objectives.