By Leonard Okachie

The wife of the General Officer Commanding(GOC), 82 Division, Mrs Nafesat Dada, has urged wives of army personnel to keep supporting their husbands by making their homes peaceful for them at all times.

Dada, who is the Chairperson of Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association (NAOWA) 82 Division Chapter, gave the advice on Tuesday during her familiarisation visit to 14 Brigade Nigerian Army, Ohafia, Abia.

She charged the wives to always keep the home front running well to give their husbands necessary support and peace of mind in order to make progress in the discharge of their national duties.

“We should treat our men as our babies by caring for them because they pass through a lot of pressure and we know that the South-East generally is facing another phase of life.

“We want them to always be strong as we women always know ourselves to be strong people and supportive weapon for our husbands,” she said.

The GOC’s wife charged the women to shun tribalism and any other acts capable of causing disaffection among themselves in the barracks.

Dada, who inspected some of NAOWA facilities, promised to support the army personnel’s wives for them to achieve their goals.

She thanked the Brigade Commander, Brig.-Gen. Nsikak Edet, for being supportive and caring to the wives and army personnel in the barracks.

The brigade commander expressed gratitude to the NAOWA chairperson and her team for the visit, while pledging his support for the women’s projects.

He said he was working tirelessly towards addressing some of the challenges being faced in the barracks, including unstable power supply, water shortage, lack of school, poor transportation and others.

“We have a challenge of school and we should have NAOWA school for our children in this barrack.

“We are working very hard to make sure that we overcome those challenges soon,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that the GOC’s wife and the brigade commander made presentations to each other.(NAN)

By Sumaila Ogbaje

The President, Defence and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA), Mrs Oghogho Musa, has stressed the need for wives of military personnel to pay adequate attention to their mental health and wellbeing.

Mrs Musa said this on Tuesday at a seminar with the theme, “Self Care and Work/Life Balance” organised by the National Defence College Officers Wives Association (NDCOWA) as part of activities lined up for the Graduation of NDC Course 31 participants.

She said the wives of officers were often left alone at the home front dealing with so much stress since their husbands were most times not around.

She said that sensitising military wives through such programme would help them to be able to cope with whatever stress or challenge they might face as primary caregivers at home.

“It is very important that we organise such programme for us to be able to educate the children, people around us and then to be able to deal with the total wellbeing of everyone around them,” she said.

The Coordinator of NDCOWA, Mrs Rhoda Olotu, said the programme would help to bring about an intentional attitudinal change towards the wholesomeness of being an officer’s wife and living right.

Olotu said the need to live up to expectations in terms of meeting extended family needs and many more reasons had compelled the modern day woman to go out in search of full time jobs that were mostly demanding while still holding on to their homes.

According to her, it will be stating the obvious that these take tolls on the women, not only physically but mentally.

“As military wives, who, most of the times have spouses that are engaged in service to our fatherland, it is even more demanding, if not chaotic in trying to find the balance.

“Self-care is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health whilst that of work life balance is described as a division of one’s time and focus between working and family or leisure activities.

“Having looked at these two definitions, and from experience critically weighing the possibility of achieving them as officers’ wives seem to a layman like me almost impossible,” she said.

One of the Resource Persons, Dr Isioma Chukwuka-Nwodo, a Psychiatrist, said that mental health could be likened to a car with four wheels that was essential for all to enjoy a productive life.

Chukwuka-Nwodo said that women were vulnerable to a number of mental health problems because of several biological and socioeconomic factors they are exposed to.

She added that wives of military officers were even more stressed by the nature of their husband’s jobs.

According to her, adoptive coping responses like self-care and seeking support and help when necessary can help turn this stress into an opportunity for positive emotions, resilience and wellbeing. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Isaac Aregbesola