President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the Armed Forces Council, ratified the (Revised) National Defence Policy 2017, and harmonised the Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers and Soldiers on November 9, 2017.
The Minister of Defence, retired Brig.-Gen. Mansur Dan-Ali, spoke to the State House correspondents that the council was reconvened and inaugurated by the president. Dan-Ali said the meeting of the Council where the terms and conditions of service of officers was last reviewed was held on July 17, 2014, and that the Armed Forces Council had not been assembled since the inception of Buhari’s administration.
Talking about the meeting, he said, “it reviewed some of the retirement benefits for officers and soldiers, including Defence Policy, which has been obsolete since 2006.” The Minister also stated that the documents would help to enhance welfare, command, discipline and administration of the Armed Forces as well as policy framework governing the conduct of security and defence in Nigeria.
Dan-Ali hopes that the ratification of these documents would enable the Armed Forces to cope with the ever-changing contemporary security challenges.
