The Female Military Veterans Association of Nigeria, FMVAN, was on Monday inaugurated in Abuja.
The Chairperson, Board of Trustees, BOT, of FMVAN, retired Maj.-Gen. Abimbola Amusu, said the inauguration of the new association was significant as the day was being commemorated and celebrated as veterans day.
She said that the new association would promote the welfare and well-being of all retired female personnel of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
She noted that military veterans deserved to be recognised and celebrated in Nigeria, adding that the event would encourage both the corporate and social sphere to recognise the veterans.
She also noted that women had played significant roles in the military worldwide predating the two world wars, which increased their roles considerably from the rear to the forward edge of the battle area.
According to her, after the world wars, many of these service women were forgotten with little record of their contribution to the war effort.
”Some were disabled, some left and had no homes to go back to, and for some who paid the supreme price, their families only grieved silent death.
”They were neither rehabilitated nor given recognition. The service of women at war costs more than just the burden of putting their lives on hold.
”They have to defer marriage, they have to defer having children, or even pursuing a higher education and the service often results in permanent physical and mental disability apart from the loss of lives.
”Now, in spite of their training and working alongside their male counterparts while in the service, female military women appear to retire into oblivion and this explains why we should remember some female veterans.”
Mrs Amusu, who was the second woman to attain the rank of a major general in the Nigerian Army, said the new association was to celebrate one another as female veterans.
She added that the association would also serve as a forum for them to interact, engage intellectually, socially and emotionally.
”You know that as females, very often, we want to engage socially and speak for military veterans, irrespective of service and rank,” she said.
Leave a Reply