Wife of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and President, Defence and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA), Mrs. Lilian Oghogho Musa, has praised the media for boosting the noble mission of the Nigerian military in tackling security challenges.
Urging the media to sustain the tempo, she stressed the urgent need to forge a deeper DEPOWA-media partnership towards guaranteeing the unity and stability of the nation. DEPOWA is a strong long-standing association of wives of serving military and police officers in the country.
She said this at the DEPOWA National Secretariat in Asokoro, Abuja during a courtesy working visit of the Board of Editors of Spokesman Newspapers Limited, publishers of the Nigerian Spokesman Magazine led by its founding chairman, Mr. Emeka Nwankpa, accompanied by the media group’s management.
Specifically speaking on DEPOWA’s various publicized humanitarian programmes for women and youths across the various barracks of the armed forces as evidence of the media’s support to the military, the wife of the CDS, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, said that the patronage had encouraged her leadership to do more for the members especially the vulnerable.
She expressed her readiness alongside her executives and wives of Service Chiefs and the Inspector General of Police to pursue more strategic partnership with the media as a deliberate policy to nurture a working support system capable of sustaining the good image of DEPOWA as a foremost Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) of international repute.
She told the visiting media team that in the past one year of her assumption of office as the 15th president of DEPOWA, she has executed the association’s humanitarian programmes towards improving the women’s living standards in the various barracks as a strategic robust complement and support system to the Nigerian military men working to carry out their core constitutional duties to the nation.
According to her, because women constitute the most critical family support system as a dominant fabric of the society, DEPOWA was founded to assist wives of serving military men to maintain the unity and stability of their homes to enable their husbands to carry out their military duties at the frontlines without undue home pressure.
According to her, the association has continued to discharge such functions creditably well within the broader goal of deepening and promoting a shared vision of a secure, stable, peaceful and prosperous nation. She noted that the successive leadership of the association has followed in such established tradition of service and sacrifice, pointing out that DEPOWA under her watch has continued to improve its image management as part of a larger agenda to build confidence and good will for ongoing military and joint operations across the country.
Commending the publisher and the Board of Editors of the Nigerian Spokesman Magazine for noticing and spotlighting the activities of her association in a 40-page current special edition captioned: A New Momentum under CDS, to mark the first year in office of her husband, Mrs. Oghogho Gwabin Musa described the gesture as a unique proof of the Nigerian media’s unwavering commitment to keeping the Nigerian public adequately informed about the military’s seriousness to bring about a secure, safe and stable polity towards engendering greater stakeholder understanding.
Speaking further, she expressed appreciation for Nigerian Spokesman’s significant contributions to creating public awareness of military’s commitment to national development, acknowledged its crucial role in providing invaluable support, setting agenda, creating understanding and educating the public on the activities of the armed forces.
The DEPOWA President who was accompanied by her executives said that the publication will substantially douse pockets of misgivings and misinformation about the military, adding that her association needed the continued support of the Nigerian Spokesman Magazine to publicize the good works of the armed forces in the public space.
Responding to a question if the armed forces had an association for the wives of its deceased members, she answered in the affirmative, saying that a Military Widows Association (MIWA) had since 2016 been inaugurated to register members across the country. She, however, stated more sensitization will be done to ensure that affected military widows were registered and fully incorporated into the association.
Speaking earlier, the publisher of Nigerian Spokesman Magazine, Mr. Emeka Nwankpa, thanked her for swiftly responding to his request for a courtesy visit, noting that she has used her position very well to galvanise ‘home’ for male service personnel thereby assisting the CDS and the Service Chiefs to weld the entire armed forces into a united, organic and impenetrable force against the nation’s multi-faceted existential threats.
He observed that DEPOWA under her watch is a household name across the various military barracks in the country for implementing programmes that directly touch the lives of barracks women and youths thereby complementing DHQ’s noble interventions in the lives of women married to military men.
Thanking her swiftly granting the media company’s request for a courtesy visit, he noted that the umbrella body of barracks women across the country has energized several members to engage in profitable ventures to enable them stand on their feet and support their husbands fighting at the frontlines thereby boosting their fighting spirit by keeping the home front stable, strong and peaceful.
Also on the courtesy visit were: Executive Director, Human Resource (ED, HR), Mrs. Esther Nwankpa, Director of Corporate Affairs, Mallam Kasim Baba Kasim, Managing Editor, Mr. Mayowa Ayodele and Personal Assistant to ED, HR, Ms Mary John.
On hand to receive the Nigerian Spokesman team were some DEPOWA executives including Mrs. Rejoice Wesley, Special Adviser; Mrs. Helen Kangye, Treasurer; Mrs. Isabella Okosun, Adviser; Mrs. Linda Ekeator, General Secretary; and Mrs. Anthonia Nyachat Oraeki, Assistant Social Secretary.
Others were Mrs.Maryam Suleiman Musa, Financial Secretary; Mrs. Anthoinette Obiuwerbi, Legal Adviser; Mrs. Bidemi Babatunde, Adviser; Mrs. Ruth Maigari, Assistant PRO and Mrs. Chinyelu Ifeanyi, DEPOWA PRO.
