The Nigerian Military will recall retired medical personnel to boost manpower, as part of its measures to aid the civil authorities in the ongoing fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche, said that the Nigerian Armed Forces had adopted a two-pronged approach including medical and security approaches.
In a press briefing with journalists at the Defence Headquarters, Enenche explained that the retired medical personnel would be recalled to boost manpower in the designated medical facilities, even though the military would not join efforts to enforce the lockdown imposed by state governments.
It said that the intervention is non-kinetic with major features of Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) activities, in line with the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) lines of conducting contemporary military operations in Nigeria.
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According to him, the constitution only empowered the military to act in aid of civil authorities, and not to usurp their roles.
“In this regard, the Armed Forces of Nigeria has developed a Two-Pronged approach to fight the pandemic, namely; the medical and security approaches.
“The medical approach is the deployment of military personnel in aid of all Ministries Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government through the provision of land, maritime and air assets, for transportation of emergency cases and medical supplies, as was the case with the medical supplies donated by the Jack Ma Foundation.
“Furthermore, under the medical aid, we have 17 medical facilities spread across the country, which have been designated for isolation and treatment of confirmed cases of the COVID-19. We have also concluded plans to recall our retired medical personnel to complement those in active service,” he said.
On security-related support, he noted that the Armed forces would activate its Disaster Response Units to work with the National Emergency Management Agency.
“These units will be responsible for the security management of emergencies other than medicals. The Defence Headquarters hereby assures the general public of its total commitment to the human security effort of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
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