The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Kana, has pledged to ensure the provision of best medical and educational facilities for the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
Kana made the pledge at a familiarisation visit to the Defence Headquarters on Wednesday, in Abuja.
He said that the armed forces all over the world were known for having the best medical facilities because of the professional nature of the institution, adding that the Nigerian military should not be an exception.
Kana pledged to work with the defence headquarters to develop a system that would enable the Nigerian military to provide the best medical services for its personnel.
According to him, any serious country you go to, the best medical facilities you will see are in the armed forces and I want us to work on that.
“During my time at the ministry of defence, I will work with your office to see how we can develop a system to provide the best medical services for the armed forces.
“You will agree with me that the personnel of the American armed forces receive best medical services whenever they come from a war.
“I told my colleagues yesterday that when President Trump contracted COVID-19, he was taken to the armed forces hospital and I can give you more instances, where leaders around the world were treated in military hospitals.
“Set up a team in terms of being proactive to look at medical services, look for those who have abnormal illnesses, those who also have dangerous injuries from war and also having post traumatic stress syndrome,” he said.
The permanent secretary also said there was the need to revamp the quality of military schools across the country to afford the children of officers and men the opportunity to have quality education.
He said the least that the government could do for military personnel was to provide them with the best education in terms of quality of teachers and educational facilities.
According to him, military personnel should not be allowed to be sending their wards to private schools that would cost them additional expenses.
He pledged to engage the UNICEF and global partners to see how they could support in the assessment of the military schools towards repositioning the institution.
Kana hinted on the planned reformation of the ministry of defence and the armed forces to fuse the ministry and the military in a single administrative environment, where the military and civilians would work together.
He urged more cordial working relationship between the ministry and the services towards achieving their constitutional mandates.
Earlier, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, commended the permanent secretary for the visit and assured him that the defence headquarters would continue to work in harmony with the ministry.
Irabor also assured him that the armed forces would continue to carry out their assigned responsibilities in a professional manner. (NAN)
