Air Force sensitises veterans, officers on planning, financial management

The Nigeria Air Force (NAF) 213 Forward Operating Base Katsina, has sensitised veterans and serving officers on future planning and financial management.

Air-Cdre Garba Jibia, the Commander of the base, during the event in Katsina on Saturday, said it was necessary to equip the veterans and the serving officers with the skills.

Jibia said that the event was part of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshall Hassan Bala-Abubakar’s efforts to interact with the veterans to know their challenges, in order to enable NAF to address them.

He said that it was also an avenue, through which NAF can gain from the experiences of the veterans, which he said can assist in improving their welfare.

He advised the retired personnel to avoid excessive spending, especially beyond their current earnings, urging those in service to prepare themselves for retirement.

Jibia, further advised them to think of ways to engage themselves, to earn income after service, especially through creativity, hard and soft skills, farming and other legal means.

“There is the need for the NAF to organise such events, for the whole serving officers and men, because it is relevant for them,” he said.

He however, urged the veterans to utilise the experience they acquired during active service, to assist themselves and earn a complimentary income, since they wete no longer in service.

The Commander assured them that whatever was discussed during the parley, would be forwarded to the headquarters for appropriate actions.

He therefore, called on the retired personnel to remain united and always interact with each other as NAF family members.

In a remark, AVM. Sadiq Kaita (rtd), lauded the initiative by the Chief of Air Staff, saying that veterans were given the opportunity to interact with officers.

“The parley will benefit the veterans as they have the opportunity of expressing their problems and will guide them to have better plans on resource management,” he said.

In a presentation on strategies for veteran management, the NAF’s Veteran Affairs Officer, F/O,-Godfrey Baaki, said the course of veterans’ administration was not exhaustive.

He revealed that it was open to innovations and new management strategies that could add value to NAF’s objectives.

“While NAF will remain committed to implementing effective strategies for veterans’ administration, feedback from units and the NAF veterans will provide decision-making tools for sustained action.

“The strategies above are incumbent and provide an overview of NAF’s direction towards moving veterans’ administration to its next level.

“The strategies are also meant to afford harmony in their implementation by units and draw relevant contributions from NAF veterans,” Baaki said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the parley was part of the NAF Base Annual Socio-Cultural Activities (BASA) 2025 event.