Army Names Newly Commissioned Abuja Barrack After Tinubu
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday inaugurated the newly constructed barracks in Abuja to accommodate officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army to address the shortage of accommodation.
The barracks named “Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks”, Asokoro Abuja, comprise 16 major generals’ quarters, 34 brigadier generals’ quarters, 60 major colonels’ flats and 60 lieutenant captains’ flats.
It also includes 180 senior non-commissioned officers blocks of flats, 264 corporal and below flats, worship centres, sports facilities and a power house in the barracks.
In his remarks, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, said naming the new army barracks after President Tinubu was a way of ‘giving honour to whom honour is due’.
Oluyede said it was in appreciation of his extraordinary support and commitment to improving the welfare and operational needs of the army, particularly in reducing its accommodation burden.
He said the project was initiated and executed by his predecessor Lt.-Gen. Faruk Yahaya and Late Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja.
Giving the details of how the new Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks would be allocated, Oluyede said the barracks contain a total of 614 apartments, and both senior and junior officers as well as soldiers would be accommodated.
The Chief of Army Staff said over 40 per cent of the Nigerian Army personnel were without accommodation, stressing that the Nigerian army still faced an acute shortage of accommodation, which must be addressed as they continued to defeat insecurity nationwide and reintegrated frontline troops into the barracks.
While speaking, President Tinubu said enhancing the welfare of officers and men of the armed forces remained paramount to his administration.
The president also emphasised the importance of locally producing military equipment to enhance domestic defence capabilities
Speaking earlier, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, said a new state-of-the-art facility for the armed forces had become imperative because the Garki headquarters, which was initially designed to be a temporary office, had become inadequate for its operations.
He also said the new facility would serve as a beacon of excellence and a symbol of dedication and modernisation of the Nigerian armed forces.
In attendance at the events were the Deputy Senate President representing the Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Tajuddeen Abbas; Senator Ahmad Lawan; Minister of Defence, Alhaji Abubakar Badaru; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi; National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, and other service chiefs.
