The Nigerian government says the Centre for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for Officers of the Armed Forces that got injured in the course of defending the country is its project.
The wife of the Nigerian President, Mrs Aisha Buhari made this known during the Armed Forces PTSD Centre, Abuja Ground Breaking ceremony in Abuja
Mrs Buhari said “this is because it is the Nigerian government that sent them and has to take the responsibility in taking care of their families and also taking care of their mental health after returning from warfront.”
She said that “many fallen heroes in the course of these sacrifices paid remained evergreen in our minds; many were either wounded physically or mentally and we appreciate them, their wives, their families in the cycle of despair, the whole nation is always with them.”
According to her, providing facilities and services for testing, treatment, or rehabilitation of patients is key.
The wife of the President added that PTSD cuts across all ages and spans of life in children who are exposed to emotional and physical abuse from parents, and those who will stand or those who endured emotional and physical abuse for a long, including men.
The Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor said that “to construct a befitting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Center for the armed forces, a lot has been said by virtue option of how issues or post-traumatic order has affected the family. But beyond that, the Armed Forces of today is bearing the brunt of having to be engaged in protracted oppression across the country and other parts of the world, all in the hopes of bringing peace and security to the country.”
He said that having realised this, for officers to be able to perform optimally on the frontlines, there has to be an awareness perspective from the home and that women descend of applause as he appealed to them, their wives to always stand ready to support them, knowing that they are partners and ensuring that they play their roles even in the frontlines.
The President, Defence and Police Officers Wives Association, DEPOWA, Vickie Irabor who narrated her experiences whenever her husband travelled for peacekeeping.
She’s said; “I confronted by the image of that moment of waiting at the foot of the aircraft, It kept coming back to me but I allowed myself to think deeply not only about my experience but that of my husband, the injured men, the wives who became widows, the children who became fatherless, the personnel who had to leave the service as a result of their injury, the trauma the men, the wives and children must have experienced and the many years that have passed with these unspoken experiences not discussed.”
Member, UK House of Lords, Baroness Sandy Verma said that “it is a wider initiative that global leaders across the world would recognize as a necessity when they send off their military staff to defend their nations, we send them off, knowing that they may not come back. We send them off knowing that they may come back injured. But what we have failed to recognise for so long is those things we cannot see: the visibility of mental health, the visibility of trauma, the visibility of being able to rehabilitate back into life. And that’s why I was so pleased and so honoured. To be honoured this is incredibly important, especially gathering here today because this marks a real turning point in how we will view post-traumatic.”
She noted that she has worked tirelessly to support women and girls across the globe and she know the UK Government is a close partner and friend of Nigeria through all the work they do together.
The Former President, Malawi, Dr. Joyce Banda said that “Nigeria has set the example so that she is going back to tell their president.”
She added that African women do not take their men for granted.
The Vice President of Liberia, Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor said “this facility has become the hub of training and treating members of their armed forces.”
Fortunately, they had this facility ready when we encountered the COVID pandemic. It then became a COVID hospital adding that now it has gone back for the original intent for which it was filled.
According to her, this is a historic occasion that Nigeria would continue to lead by examples and it is my prayer that this kind of an example become the standard in Africa and provide a safe place for the Armed Forces to get the care that they need so that they can return in a normal state to their families.
She said that “there are a huge number of refugees scattered all over in our region, including here in Nigeria and to other parts of the world.
“The International Community including Nigeria has to put their thinking caps on and mobilize resources to deal with complex humanitarian emergencies.
Appealing whilst on the other hand, it costs a human catastrophe of death, separation of families, lack of basic needs for survival, and alienation in local communities, where refugees were temporarily settled.”
According to her, in response to this crisis, regional leaders under the aegis of the Economic Community of West African States, after much deliberation, decided that peacekeeping by military intervention was the best option to halt the Civil War.
“This then prompted the deployment of ECOWAS, a mission to call evermore with intent to put a stop to the Civil War. The intervention by FMO will the Vanguard route be played by Nigeria was the first comprehensive attempt at regional peacekeeping since the OAU mobilized African forces to intervene in Congo between 1960 and 1965,” She added.
Present at the event were Representatives of Service Chiefs, Representatives of Governors, an Artist, Pita Linus, among others.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
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