The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, has contributed to the development of education and water supply in Angbasa village, a rural community in Niger.
Lagbaja also constructed and donated a block of three classrooms and a borehole to Angbasa community in Lavun Local Government Area of the state.
Inaugurating the projects on Monday, the COAS explained that they were executed through the Special Intervention Civil Military Cooperation Projects at the Angbasa Nursery and Primary School.
He said the project also renovated a block of three classrooms as well as provided furniture for the pupils of the primary school.
Lagbaja said that he embarked on the project to create an enabling environment for teaching and learning as well as encourage pupils to go to school in the area.
The COAS was represented by the Commander, Training and Doctrine Command, Nigeria Army, Minna, Maj.-Gen. Kevin Aligbe.
He said the gesture was to promote educational development in the community and the state at large.
According to him, the projects executed by the Nigerian Army were to complement the existing infrastructural drive of government at all levels through its civil-military operations.
He also said that the projects, which were spread across the country, were designed to provide support to communities of Nigerian Army senior officers.
Lagbaja said, ”These officers, through dedication to duty and service to the nation, have risen to the enviable rank of Maj.-Gen.
He said that the initiative was part of the commitment and determination of the Nigerian Army towards addressing the security challenges in the country through non-kinetic operations.
“This project was initiated in order to encourage education, to encourage our youths to embrace education.
“It is part of our commitments to provide support and to complement the efforts of the government in infrastructural development,” he said.
The Chief of Army Staff assured of his continued commitment to combat insecurity in the country.
He expressed optimism that the project would help to foster unity between the army and communities of operations.
On his part, the Chief of Civil Military Affairs, Army Headquarters, Maj.-Gen. NC Igbo, represented by Brig.Gen. PD Koungha, appealed to the community to make good use of the project.
He said that the projects, if fully utilised, would boost the standard of education in the community.
Earlier, the executor of the project, who is also a son of the soil, Maj.-Gen. Musa Awwal Etsu-Ndagi, lauded Lagbaja for the gesture.
He explained that prior to the intervention of the COAS, the poor condition of the existing block of classrooms and other issues had reduced the enrollment of pupils in the area.
Etsu-Ndagi, who is the Deputy Chief of Training, Nigerian Army Headquarters, said that the projects would boost educational standards in the community.
“Education is the passport to the future as the Chief of Army Staff has given the youths of my village a passport to the future,” he said.
Etsu-Ndagi appreciated the Chief of Army Staff for the projects and prayed to God to bless his leadership positively.
He also thanked other military officers, traditional rulers, religious leaders, youths and other community stakeholders for their efforts towards the success of the projects.
Responding, the Education Secretary, Lavun Local Government, Malam Jibrin Abubakar, appreciated the Chief of Army Staff’s special intervention projects and pledged the effective utilisation of the facilities.
The education secretary, however, appealed for e-learning facilities in the school.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project comprised the renovation of an old block of three classrooms and construction of a new block of three classrooms.
It has a staff room, water system, latrines, benches, desks and reticulation of the existing borehole.(NAN)
