Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila yesterday inaugurated a 1,200 -capacity auditorium he facilitated at Abalti Army Barracks, Surulere, Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria,NAN, reports ,the auditorium, named Bola Tinubu Hall, is one the projects facilitated by the Chief of Staff at the barracks.
At the inauguration, Gbajabiamila, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, said that the military deserved better recognition and dividends of democracy even when they do not ask like the electorate.
He said: “The military has done so well in stabilising this country and this democracy.
“And that is why when you talk about dividends of democracy, normally it is the civilians, our people, our electorate that talk about and ask for dividends of democracy.
“But you guys don’t ask for it. It is given to you naturally because we understand the role you play in Nigeria.
“If you are doing that, it behoves on us, as elected officials, and unelected officials as I am now, to make sure that you live in a comfortable environment, that you operate within a comfortable environment that will make your work easier.
“That’s why we commission projects here on a regular basis. This is another one of them: over 1,000 capacity hall, it is furnished, fully air-conditioned, with an 80 kVA generator and it is ultra-modern.
“And why do we do that? We do that because the army, the military is an integral part of any democracy”.
According to him, without security, there cannot be democracy.
Gbajabiamila conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s leadership commitment to the welfare and wellbeing of the officers and men of the military.
He expressed the President’s gratitude for the role the men and women in the military play, and for sacrificing, sometimes even paying the supreme sacrifice, to keep the country one.
According to him, the facility allows the military to host events, to do training and conferences as well as help to generate revenue .
Gbajabiamila added that he was working to pull down the old bungalows in the barracks and replace them with a multi-storey residential building, “which will be our next project for this barracks”.
He added that efforts had been made to build and inaugurate an ultra modern new residential building at the nearby police barracks, “Yours is coming, too”.
