By Sumaila Ogbaje
The 31 Artillery Brigade Minna, on Wednesday, conducted a medical outreach for residents of Garatu Community in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger.
The outreach is in commemoration of the 2024 Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL).
The Brigade Commander, Brig.-Gen. Hamidu Bobbo, said the gesture was part of the military tradition of offering humanitarian services to civilians to foster cordial relationship and cooperation.
Bobbo urged the people to see the Nigerian army as part of the society, adding that the free medical outreach was to commemorate the 161 years of the Nigerian army formation and to enhance the Military-Civilian relations.
The brigade commander said the free medical outreach was part of the brigade’s way of saying thank you to the community for their continued support to military.
He said the theme for the year; “Transforming the Nigerian Army Imperative for Combating Contemporary Security Challenges Within a Joint Environment”, was in line with the Chief of Army Staff command philosophy.
He said the community has a great role to play toward combating the security challenges in the state by being vigilant and providing useful information to the Nigerian army.
“Useful information from our communities can help the Nigerian army greatly in the fight against banditry, insurgency and other forms of criminal activities in the country.”
He said the brigade started off the NADCEL activities on Tuesday with a public lecture in some selected secondary schools in the state, where some educational materials, including exercise books were distributed to the students.
“No fewer than 300 people including women, children and the elderly in the community benefited from the free medical outreach by the Artillery brigade medical corp.
“Medical services rendered to the people, includes general medical consultations, blood pressure check, blood sugar level check and general drugs administration,” he said.
Earlier of the Chairman of Bosso local government area, Mrs Ladidi Bosso, thanked the brigade for choosing the local government for the 2024 medical outreach to mark the NADCEL 2024.
Bosso, who was represented by the Secretary of the Local Government, Malam Danlami Maiangwar, said the free medical outreach by the army would go a long way in boosting the civil-military relation.
She assured the military of the council’s support at all times in its effort to rid the state of banditry, insurgency and other criminal elements. (NAN)