The wife of the Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) Mrs Salamatu Yahaya on Thursday donated half bag of rice, two litres of ground oil and materials to 65 widows in Lagos State.
Yahaya, also President, Nigerian Army Officers Wives’ Association (NAOWA) layed the foundation for a block of six classrooms, ICT laboratory and a Five Hundred Seater Assembly Hall at NAOWA Model Nursery and Primary School, Nigerian Army Cantonment, Ojo.
The president specially extolled late Mrs Maryam Babangida who built the pioneering NAOWA model nursery and primary school in 1985 to improve the educational sector in the country.
“Going by the great vision of Babangida, NAOWA now has 40 model nursery and primary school across the nation according to our data base.
“We only have about six states where we don’t have NAOWA model nursery and primary schools and we are working to ensure that the schools are established in these states,” she said.
According to Yahaya, the school project is aimed at providing the required structure for conducive, effective and efficient learning among pupils.
“When the project is completed, it will provide additional classrooms to accommodate more pupils, create new learning opportunities in areas of information and communication technology.
“It will also provide a conducive hall for assembly and other school activities as well as employment opportunities.
“These structures are important coming at a period due to the increasing number of students in the school,” she said.
Yahaya said that one of her priorities as the president of NAOWA was directed to alleviating the need of the less privileged in the barracks and the society at the large.
“This is what necessitated the donation of food items to some of the widows.
“I also place premium on standardising and expanding existing assets and institutions therefore, we are working to improve the policy guidelines in creating a structured management system for effective service delivery.
“All of the above mentioned were borne out of my vision in sustaining legacies and upholding the tenets of unity and service,” the president said.
She thanked the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 81 Division Maj.-Gen. Lawrence Fejokwu for his warm reception and audience in spite of his busy operational schedule.
Meanwhile, Maj.-Gen. Lawrence Fejokwu appreciated the intervention of Yahaya in contributing to the development of the Nigerian Army and said that she was going about her administration in the right way.
“Levaraging on what your predecessors have put on ground and trying to improve on them is the way for us to go.
“It is better to start and finish one project, make good use of it and then begin to build another one and that is exactly what your are doing.
“I believe that this should be well documented by your organisation to serve as a model to people of future generations to come,” he said.
Fejokwu thanked Yahaya for the path that she carved out in reaching out to the poor.
“You have always put it in your fore front to reach out to widows and the less privileged.
“That has it’s own blessings that comes from God and He will continue to give you the strength and the resources to continue in that light.
“I will continue to support NAOWA activity wherever and whenever I can,” the GOC said.