The Minister of Defence, Major General Barshi Magashi (rtd) says the armed forces has achieved 80 per cent success in the four years he served as a minister.
Magashi said this while speaking at a valedictory dinner in his honour and organized by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar Kana.
“Whether anybody likes it or not, the Armed forces have done the best that is possible to keep this country in the security situation we find ourselves in.
“There is nothing that we have not done to keep this country together. In this period we achieved about 70 to 80 percent success and we will continue to do the same.
“I think the President has given us all the tools necessary to enable us to perform our duties credibly”.
On the working relationship with the Chief of Defence Staff and the service chiefs, he said, “I have come to understand that everything we do requires teamwork and when I joined the ministry, I found that there are lot of things that we were required to do.
“We needed synergy among the members of the armed forces and the ministry. I am proud to see that this has continued. I hope it will continue forever.
“You must continue to be soldiers and I am happy that we are doing what we ought to do for this country.
“We should give credit to the outgoing Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari for realising that there is a need for synergy among the armed forces and other security agencies.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Dr Ibrahim Abubakar Kana applauded the minister for providing leadership to the Armed Forces of Nigeria as well as the ministry.
“I must state here that working with Magashi brought peace to me personally and the ministry at large because the outgoing minister was a dependable man.”
