Protocols,
I welcome you all to this important occasion, the launching of the emblem to commemorate 2016 Armed Forces Remembrance Day. This has become an annual ritual for some time, but a ritual that came from the heart of a grateful nation and people to members of the armed forces who have served to defend the territorial integrity of this country and protect the people at home and abroad.
Nigerian soldiers and other professionals participated in the two world wars in the last century. Men and women of the armed forces again fought in the Nigerian Civil War, in the bid to keep the nation as one. They were also deployed for peacekeeping operations abroad, where they were given commendation for display of gallantry, honour and distinction.
Indeed, it was the participation of Nigerians in the Second World War that gave impetus to the nationalists’ efforts culminating in decolonisation. The superior courage and military valour displayed by our people in the jungles of Burma confounded their colonial handlers and demystified the notion of white superiority.
In most recent times, Nigerians have sacrificed precious lives to restore democracy to West African countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone and currently they are engaged in the war on terrorism in several parts of Nigeria.
War, as we all know, is bad business, but we cannot escape the insightful saying of Karl von Clausewitz that ‘to have peace, we must prepare for war’. And as the former American President, George W Bush, once said, ‘violent men (and women) must be restrained violently’. This, however, is always at a great cost.
It is one of the inscrutable ironies of life that those who keep us safe must first be prepared to lay down their own lives and many regrettably do lose their lives. Lives and limbs are lost while many are made permanently incapacitated in the course of war. Wives become widowed while children are made orphans. Family breadwinners are taken away as dreams are shattered.
The least we can do as a government and people is to keep the memory of these soldiers alive, support those that are alive and take adequate care of the families of the departed. This is why we are here today.
The emblem being launched is a reminder of their service and sacrifice and an obligation on us to support them. We should support this effort generously and wear the emblem with pride during this week of remembrance. President Muhammadu Buhari has encouraged Nigerians and visitors to wear the emblem throughout this week. We support and identify with this advisory. More importantly, we must keep their memories in our heart.
Though there have been occasional reports of bad behaviours, our veteran soldiers have been good citizens and are well behaved. In most cases, they have voluntarily constituted the vanguard of security in their communities, and sometimes at great risks. They are usually public spirited and quick to demonstrate civic responsibilities. They add to the stock of our social capital.
I enjoin our citizens and corporate organisations to donate to their cause generously. They must be well supported. They took up soldering as a divine call, or else they could have taken to other more lucrative and less tasking vocations. They should not be made to regret serving their fatherland in its defence.
Our own society must devise means to specially reward and support our veterans. Their plight should not be an annual event, during the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration only.
In other lands, stores give them special discounts; those returning to school have their tuition fees slashed while veterans are given free passes to gated events. In several instances, they enjoy free medical care and other social services.
They are made to feel appreciated every day, and not just on special occasions like this. We can draw many examples from this and build a reward system for our veteran soldiers into our social institutions.
We must also build industries around the sets of skills they have acquired in service. This by no means does not include hired assassination, since a soldier by definition must be a sharp shooter. But I am kidding.
The commonest engagement of veterans has been to hire them for sentry duties. This is hardly enough. In many cases it amounts to underutilisation of resources. There are diverse ways they can be engaged productively and maximally. Most of them have acquired advanced skills in many vocations that could be deployed into nation building and development, but are just lying fallow. Those of them with combat experience can be reprogrammed and put in a special police units needed to engage armed bandits and other violent criminals in our urban centres. They will be glad to resume their defence duties in civilian capacities.
It is also important that we review our philosophy of soldering by having a productive citizen’s army. In a peacetime like this, a lot of our teeming but idle youths can be absorbed into the armed forces. Apart from giving them excellent professional training, they should also be given excellent vocational training and deployed for services where needed.
The engineering corps for instance can be expanded and equipped for greater participation in infrastructure development across the length and breadth of the country. Individual soldiers should also be given training on providing household and corporate services. Through this, they would have acquired life sustaining skills and upon disengagement, with some empowerment, can be on their own and have seamless transition into civilian life.
I am aware there are programmes like this in the armed forces but they need to be expanded and brought into the core of the armed forces raison d’etre, such that every soldier returning to society would have a seamless transition and would not constitute a burden to himself or society.
Once again, I wholeheartedly welcome you all for being here and thank you for your kind attention.
Osun a dara!
This speech was delivered by the governor, state of Osun, Ogeni Rauf Aregbesola at this year’s Armed Forces remembrance day celebration
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