Service Extension: No Illegality perpetuated by Service Chiefs – Gen Enenche

The Director Defense Information Major General EJ Enenche has stated that there is no illegality perpetuated by the service chiefs; Army, Air Force and the Navy in favoring course mates to prolong their service in the Nigeria Military.

The Defense spokesman in a press statement in Abuja said contrary to some media reports captioned “How Service Chiefs Illegally Extend Military careers of course Mates” noted that; “It has become necessary to clear this issue that was addressed particularly to the Nigerian Army, Navy and the Air force”.

The report he said cited “Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service” (HTACOS) 2012, Paragraph 02: 10 (b) as justification for the assertion, which is a tabulation of the conditions relating to the length of service of a commissioned officer of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

Gen Enenche said, “It However failed to give insight into other sections of the Paragraph that borders specifically on extension of service for a commissioned officer.

“In view of this kind of an unbalanced publication, the Defense Headquarters wishes to posit that; Paragraph 02:10 (d) of Armed Forces of Nigeria, Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service, officers, 2012 is clear on the considerations for extending the length of service for officers, which are as follows:

“An officer’s career can be extended based on the interest of the Service, in this case, Army, Navy and Air force in very exceptional cases, an officer’s Career can be extended beyond one year or as long as necessary.

“Extension of service for officers can only be approved by the Service council-board comprising the Minister of Defense, Chief of Defense Staff, the service Chief, Service Director at the Ministry of Defense and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Defense.

“Extension of service for officers can also be at the discretion of the Commander in Chief; from the foregoing, I wish to state that there was no act of illegality perpetuated by the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval staff or Chief of the Air Staff regarding extending the length of service for officers.

“Extant guidelines and policies are always followed as laid out in the aforementioned document when the need arises. It is also worthy of note that quite a good number of officers mentioned in the article are no longer in service but only few”.

Enenche re-assured that the service Chiefs under the strategic leadership of the Chief of Defense staff are focused and will remain so in tackling the security challenges of the Nation and would not be distracted by any means.