COAS seeks sustained financial, medical safety net for veterans
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, has called for a safety net that ensures former service members are not left without financial or medical assistance. He noted
- From Musa Umar Bologi, Abuja
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, has called for a safety net that ensures former service members are not left without financial or medical assistance.
He noted that the welfare of personnel must extend beyond active service to encompass the dignified sustenance of veterans.
Gen. Shaibu said this when he hosted the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Defence Health Maintenance Limited (DHML), Rear Admiral Azeeze Bayo Afolayan (retd.), at the Army Headquarters in Abuja.
In a statement by Nigerian Army’s spokesperson, Colonel Apollonia Anele, the COAS noted that as the Army continues to conduct complex operations across the six geopolitical zones, maintaining the physical and mental readiness of the force remains a strategic priority that demands a responsive and modern healthcare framework.
Shaibu said retirement often introduces socio-economic vulnerabilities due to limited access to resources, stressing that the “man must survive” after a lifetime of dedicated service.
The COAS assured fellow Nigerians that the Army’s commitment to its retirees is a lifelong obligation.
He called for a safety net that ensures former service members are not left without financial or medical assistance.
He described the MD of DHML as a quintessential “insider” whose continued contribution post-retirement exemplified the value of institutional memory in national service.
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Afolayan called for the institutionalisation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), specifically for the Human Resources and administrative departments within military medical units.
He emphasised that the functionality of healthcare delivery relies on standardized forms and operational clarity, moving away from ad hoc processes to a more disciplined, policy-driven approach.
This modernisation, the DHML Managing Director noted, was essential to ensure that medical personnel data is accurately captured and that administrative hurdles do not impede the swift delivery of care to troops and their families nationwide.
He said the expansion of SCPs was a strategic mechanism to share medical cadres more effectively across various units.
According to him, by leveraging functional, well-equipped SCPs, the Nigerian Army could optimise its medical workforce and ensure that every soldier, “particularly those in volatile theatres of operation, have access to specialist care through a streamlined and cost-effective management system”.
