Federal Government is set to reposition and modernise the country’s armed forces to make them up to date and comparable with modern armies anywhere in the world, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan said in Abuja on Sunday.
Jonathan spoke at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, during a special service to mark the 2010 Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebrations.
He also reiterated government’s commitment to meeting the welfare of families of serving and ex-service men in Nigeria.
“As a government we will work with the Chief of Defence Staff and other Service Chiefs to make sure that the welfare of the Armed Forces is taken care of.
“We must remember the pains one must have passed through, when we talk about the First World War when weapons used were not as sophisticated as today.
“Sometimes we lack the ammunition to engage in physical combat, today when you look globally, fighting is now sophisticated and scientific.
“People can stay thousands of miles to conquer enemies; that means if we must continue to maintain our position, then we must look inward and see what we can do.
“That is why government must take certain institutions of the Armed Forces very seriously like the Nigerian Defence Academy which must be repositioned to ensure it is one of the best defence institutions globally, if we must produce and prepare Armed Forces that will continue to carry the banner of this country high.