A total of 403 military personnel would retire from the armed forces next week, Air Vice Marshal Austine Jekenu, Commandant, Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC), has said.

He told newsmen on Thursday in Lagos that the retiring military men were drawn from the Army, the Air Force and the Navy.

“A total of 403 servicemen comprising of 281 from the Nigerian Army, 17 from the Nigerian Navy and 105 from the Nigerian Air Force would be graduating from the NAFRC,” he said.

Represented by his deputy, Maj. Gen. Edward Nze, Jekennu said that the retiring servicemen went through months of intensive training on skill acquisition and entrepreneurship at NAFRC.

He said the training was to prepare the retirees for life after military service as civilians.

According to him, the initiative is to enable the beneficiaries adjust and appropriately blend with the peculiarities of retirement.

He urged all the retiring servicemen to continue to positively contribute to the achievement of national objectives in whatever business they engaged in.

“It is on record that over 41,400 ex-servicemen of the Nigerian Armed Forces have been trained in this centre since its inception,” he said.

The commandant said the passing out ceremony for the course participants would hold on Dec. 15, adding that the Minister for Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, is expected to grace the occasion. (Daily Trust)