51, Lake Chad Crescent,
Maitama, Abuja.
Federal Capital Territory
Nigeria
October 9th, 2020
Attention: The Chairman, Governors Forum Nigeria š³š¬
YOUR EXCELLENCY SIR, OUR STATE GOVERNORS ~WHERE ARE MILITARY VETERANS CERTIFICATES OF RETURN?
Many years ago, I and so many young men and women found ourselves in white canvases, white stockings, white shorts, white sweat shirts! Our faces shining with enthusiastic attention and hope! We all queued up and holding in our hands, amongst all the other accreditation credentials, we help firmly, our LETTERS of IDENTIFICATION from our Local Governments. This qualifies you to fall into the state quota for military recruitment.
Alas! Immediately you join training, you are identified by your state and culture. From the instructors you will hear āYamiriā or āAnini Brodaā We all decided that no matter what we were called, we pulled ourselves into one formidable fighting force and waded through the rigorous training and came out as the NIGERIA š³š¬ ARMED FORCES!
Under this discovery of our strength when we stand as one, back to back, we couldnāt miss the power we wielded In Liberia, Sierra Leon, and all the international fighting campaigns. So many didnāt return alive. Some did, but lost limbs and trauma plagued. Some came back in mental dementia! For those of us that came back complete we were made to tackle internal insurgents and bandits and terrorism and most offensive internal enemy was corruptionin every fora!
In this fight, we lost some more of our friends, comrades at arms and brothers and sisters! Some of us, again, survived. Yes, we survived to continue the fight for our personal existence. We began the fight to raise a family, have a wife and grow children like others too. We bought foodstuffs from the same markets like our civilian brothers. We paid school fees for our kids and planned a future for them like our civilian counterparts, even at the meager amount that we received as monthly salaries!
YOUR EXCELLENCY, MY GOVERNOR ~ WHERE IS MY CERTIFICATE OF RETURN?
Finally, we all, at different stages of service, got to the point where we were due to get discharged and retired from active service to our dear country Nigeria š³š¬
We knew that we were going out of the Military, but we couldnāt fathom where we were going to and how we shall get there. At the point of recruitment, families gathered to bid us farewell! Buses were hired or provided by the State Governments to convey their STATE REPRESENTATIVES to Zaria Depot and so many other Military Trainning Institutions! We shed tears of lonely nights anticipated, fear of the unknown and how we shall miss our loved ones!
BUT we were PROUD! Proud to be representing our STATE in the National Quotas Systems! We were proud that we are amongst the few that made it to keep our ethnic presence in the National Scheme of things! We vowed never to let the name be rubbished and vowed to keep our names out of any bad books in the course of our service years! And this was a guidebook fo majority that came back clean and stainless. Majority came back from service with this high hopes of joy and pride to have been disciplined and obedient and responsible!
OBEDIENCE, DISCIPLINE AND RESPONSIBLE!
When we began to disengage meritoriously From service, these words were what we held as our legacy and hoped that these words can get you to any level in life! To any door you knock with these-words the doors will open for you. But Alas! Again, we discovered that the community we met do not recognize them. Someone, Somehow, Somewhere, have erased them from our diction and written another set of rules!
MY STATE GOVERNOR ~ WHERE IS MY CERTIFICATE OF RETURN?
YOUR EXCELLENCY SIR!, we are not comfortable with the way we met things after our Meritorious Service! We are not happy to see this level of decadence and criminality. We are not comfortable with the lives our kids will face in communities they are mere strangers!
OUR PRAYERS !
1) We pray, that you send a delegate to the Military Pension Board and the Veterans Affairs Department of the Ministry of Defence to help you collate the data bases of all Military Veterans from your state that are dead or alive.
2) We pray, that you prepare CERTIFICATE OF RETURN FROM MERITORIOUS MILITARY SERVICE for all of them.
3) We pray, that you assign a special day in each state to invite military veterans and present CERTIFICATES OF RETURN to them in a brief and media covered event!
4) We pray, that you will understand that we are NOT asking for MONEY to come with these CERTIFICATES OF RETURN. We simply want a reasonable ceremony to recognize us at state levels and WELCOME US BACK HOME!
5) We pray, that you use your wisdom to know that the Nigeria š³š¬ Military Veterans are part and parcel of the state!
BENEFITS!
There is no gain saying that this has a lot of benefits to the local government, state government and the National.
1) SECURITY ~This will give the state Governor an opportunity to meet with the trained personnel of the Armed forces from his state that are back as civilians. He can leverage on this Veteran Community to enhance the state security architecture and the National Security Advisers Office (ONSA) can use this data base immensely.
2) MORALES BOOSTER ~This will go a long way to encourage families to present their kinsmen from responsible families for National services. It will motivate those in active Military services to keep the tenets of the job and maintain discipline and decorum!
CONCLUSION
The Retired Members of the Nigeria š³š¬ Armed forces (REMENAF) is the most formidable Veteran body in Nigeria š³š¬. It is registered Ā® with CAC. It has chapters in over 30 states of the Federation and Counting. State Governors are hereby encouraged to partner with this association (REMENAF) to reintegrate the values there of and inculcate a viable communication channel with the rich community of Military Veterans!
YOUR EXCELLENCY, WHO IS THE FIRST STATE GOVERNOR TO TAKE UP THIS CHALLENGE? !!
Respectfully yours
Ambassador (Dr.) Okhidievbie Oamien Roy
Ex~Military, Fellow~IIPS, Fellow~UBS~CBMP, Fellow~ICMC, Fellow-
~IDMSS, Fellow~IBMN, Fellow ~ISN.
PhD. Peace & Conflict (in view) MSc~InterRel.
Chartered~MEDIATOR/CONCILIATOR (ICMC), CPO (Florida), MASIS (USA), ADSOM (UNILAG), MAISSON, MISN, AMNRCS, MLCIF, MIFMA, PFSO (NIMASA/Maritime)
šØš¾āā National Secretary ~ Retired Members Of NIGERIA š³š¬ Armed Forces (REMENAF)
šØāš¼ National PRO ~ Association Of Licensed Private Security Practitioners Of NIGERIA š³š¬ (ALPSPN)
Hotline: 08095707567 / 08165021946
Cc:
1) All State Governors
2) The Governors Forum
3) The Military Pension Board
4) DEFENCE Veterans Affairs Department
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