BEVERLY HILLS, June 22, (THEWILL) – The Defence Headquarters, DHQ, on Thursday reacted to a report alleging that the present crop of service chiefs have illegally extended the military careers of some of their course mates who are supposed to have retired having attained 56 years of age or have served for 35 years.
Earlier this week, the story credited to an online medium had revealed a trend in which the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, and Chief of Air Staff, CAS, had secretly extended the stay of their colleagues and close allies in the Armed Forces notwithstanding that they were all due for retirement.
The report claimed that the retention of the senior officers already overdue for retirement has resulted in stagnation of careers of junior officers, who have been prevented from rising to the ranks of Major-General and its equivalent in the Navy and Air Force.
It also linked the recent coup alarm to the disenchantment within the ranks of junior military officers, who are angry that many of their contemporaries were retired from service, while senior officers who have exhausted their mandatory years of service have been retained in the military.
However, the Director of Defence Information, Major General John Enenche, in a statement denied any such policy in the military, explaining that the career of officers can be extended based on exigency of Service, approved by Army/Navy/Air Force council or the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
Part of the statement reads: “The attention of the Defence Headquarters has been drawn to a report making the round in the media captioned: ‘How Service Chiefs Illegally Extend Military Careers of Course Mates’.
“Thus, it has become necessary to clear this issue that was addressed particularly to the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air force.
“It cited Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service (HTACOS) 2012, Paragraph 02: 10 (b) as justification for the assertion, which is a tabulation of the conditions relating to the length of service of a commissioned officer of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
“However, it failed to give an insight into other sections of the paragraph that border specifically on extension of service for a commissioned officer.”
Enenche continued that “in view of this kind of an unbalanced publication, the Defence Headquarters wishes to posit that paragraph 02:10 (d) of Armed Forces Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for officers 2012 is clear on the considerations for extending the length of service for officers, which are summarised as follows: ‘An officer’s career can be extended based on the interest of the Service, in this case, Army, Navy and Air force. In a very exceptional cases, an officer’s career can be extended beyond one year for as long as necessary.
“Extension of service for officers can only be approved by the Service council/board comprising the Minister of Defence, Chief of Defence Staff, the Service Chiefs, Service Director at Ministry of Defence and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry.”
He held that “extension of service for officers can also be at the discretion of the Commander in Chief. From the foregoing, I wish to state that there was no act of illegality perpetuated by the CAS, CNS or CAS regarding extending the length of service for officers.
“Extant guidelines and policies are always followed as laid out in the aforementioned document when the need arises. It is also worthy of note, that quite a good number of the officers mentioned in the article are no longer in service.
“Only very few are still in service, in the interest of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, which is in line with Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers 2012, paragraph 02.10 (d).
“The public is hereby re-assured that the service chiefs under the strategic leadership of the Chief of Defence Staff are focused and will remain so in tackling the security challenges of the nation, and would not be distracted by any means.”
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