President Bola Tinubu has ordered the immediate payment of all pending Group Life Assurance owed to the Next of Kins of families of soldiers killed in action.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, on Tuesday, who disclosed this while declaring open the combined 2nd and 3rd Quarter Chief Of Army Staff Conference 2023, held at the Army Headquarters Command Officers Mess Abuja said that in addition, the President has also directed the Armed Forces Nigeria AFN and other security agencies to end the insecurity in the country in the shortest possible time.
According to Gen Lagbaja,” the Federal Government has a scheme called the Group Life Assurance. It is an insurance scheme designed to give succour to families of our departed heroes.
“This scheme works in such a way that the government pays premium to the insurance companies and in the event of death the insurance companies pay claims to the families of our departed heroes.”
”However, we have a backlog between 2012 and 2022, when claims were not paid. And some people died in the cause of service to the nation. So, the insurance companies who are at the liberty of paying the premium are not paying, and that is why the Federal Government has taken it upon itself to discharge that backlog and bring relief to the families of our departed heroes.”
The Army Chief said that in line with the matching order of the President to end insurgency activities in the country in the shortest time, the Nigerian Army has already established some Special Forces units with specially trained personnel to tackle various security challenges across the country.
He said with delight that the Special Forces units have continued to record tremendous successes through intelligence-led operations and the use of special equipment across the six geo-political zones of the country
Gen Lagbaja also said that the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorist activities have been curtailed, adding that residents of the troubled states had commenced commercial activities in the states.
According to him, “It is heart-warming to note that our activities in Operation Hadin Kai in the North East have effectively curtailed Boko Haram and other terrorist activities in the Region. Overall, our efforts have resulted in the large-scale surrender of members of the terrorist groups and the submission of a large cache of arms and ammunition.
“The good people of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States are steadily picking up their livelihood as the military, in collaboration with the government, is helping to restore governance to the hitherto deprived areas
The Army Chief who used the occasion to launch his vision and mission statement for the Nigerian army, said troops’ welfare and that of their families would continue to remain predominant to him as COAS.