Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, says serving officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces are the bastions of national unity that deserve more from the government while in active service to the fatherland.
Diri spoke a special thanksgiving service held in honour of ex-servicemen at the King of Glory Chapel, Government House, Yenagoa, on Sunday, as part of activities lined up for this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration.
Underscoring the vital role played by the armed forces to secure and keep the nation together, he said the government could not gratify military officers in commensurate measure considering the sacrifices they had made and continue to make for the country.
The governor represented by his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, noted that Nigeria was standing as one indivisible nation because of the sacrifices being made by military men despite the pockets of separatist agitations across the country.
According to him, over 80 per cent of serving military officers were not living together with their families, leaving the mentorship of their children in the hands of others.
Diri, therefore, reiterated his call on the National Assembly to enact legislation to adequately provide for the care and educational training of children of officers who die in the line of duty.
He said, “I really want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government, that we need to do more than we are doing currently for the servicemen in uniform. The sacrifices they make are unquantifiable and inestimable. Nigeria is united today because people risked their lives to keep Nigeria united. Even as I speak to you, there are various frontiers of discontentment and agitations, whereby some people are trying to pull the nation apart because they want to go their way.”
In his sermon entitled, ‘Honouring a life of sacrifice’, Senior Apostle Michael Makpah, urged people to emulate the life of the biblical Abraham, stressing that anywhere sacrifice is offered, there is the need for honour to be given.
Makpah noted that members of the Nigerian armed forces were driven by love for the country to put their lives on the line for the maintenance of peace, security and territorial integrity of the nation, and therefore must be better appreciated.