By Anayo Okoli

UMUAHIA—IN bid to ensure that youths and women living in Army Barracks across the country are usefully engaged, the Nigerian Army has introduced some business initiatives  to keep them busy and also enable them to earn little income.

The Army High Command has encouraged them to engage mainly in agro-based ventures such as poultry, fishery, rabbit rearing, farming, goat rearing, among others, that can provide them both food and finance.

The programme tagged, “Barracks Investment Initiative [BII]” was the brainchild of the current Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai, who it was learnt felt the need to engage the women and youths in the barracks whose breadwinners [husbands and fathers] are always out for internal security assignments and other assignments, at times outside the shores of the nation.

•Poultry being run by 14 Brigade, Ohafia

The Chief of Army Staff was said to have reasoned that within this period when the breadwinners of the soldiers’ families are out on national assignments, the families could be exposed to some hardship, hence the need to provide an avenue for them to meaningfully engage themselves to ameliorate the hardship by earning extra money to augment their income.

The programme cuts across all army formations and units with each barrack delving into areas it thinks it has comparative advantage. For instance, the 14 Brigade Ohafia, Abia State, for a start, has embarked on small scale poultry business.

•GOC 82nd Division inspecting the poultry

On a recent visit to the poultry, the General Officer, Commanding the 82 Division of Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major General Adamu Abubakar commended their effort and urged them to expand it and possibly engage in other areas too.

Abubakar told them to take serious interest in the initiative, saying that the COAS was very passionate about it as he wants to see that families of troops are happy while their head is out there serving the nation.

The GOC assured them that the Army High Command was very willing to render any assistance they might need and charged them to show more interest in the project.