Bayelsa state governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has offered automatic employment to the wives of two Bayelsa-born Nigerian Air Force (NAF) pilots who died in service during a raid on Boko Haram hideouts in the Northeast recently.
The Special Adviser to the governor on Media Relations, Mr Fidelis Sorowei in a statement in Yenagoa on Monday, quoted the Governor Dickson to have made the pronouncement while paying a condolence visit to one of the widows, Mrs. Diepreye Inokoba Jacob, whose husband, Flight Lieutenant Pereowei Jacob, died in the NAF’s helicopter crash at Damasak in Borno state.
He added that Governor Dickson also extended the offer of employment to the wife of the another pilot, Lt. Owei, who died in 2016 when the Commander 115 Special Operations Group, Port Harcourt, Air Commodore E. Ebiowei, drew his attention to it.
The governor said the offer of automatic employment was the state government’s modest way of encouraging and rallying support for the relatives left behind by the indigenes of the state who got killed in active service to their fatherland.
He described the late pilots as heroes whose services were a source of pride to the Ijaw nation.
Dickson said: “We are very proud of the services and the sacrifices that our departed young heroes made. We hereby announce automatic employment for the wife.
“The Base Commander has told us that another Air Force officer from Bayelsa State, Flight Lt. Owei also died while fighting in the Northeast in 2016. I hereby announce immediate employment for his widow.
“This is our modest way of encouraging our people in the service of this nation. Our people, from the beginning, have stood for Nigeria; we have been doing that and we are not going to get tired to demand that Nigeria does what is right for us too.”
The Governor who had also paid a condolence visit to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, called on leaders and Nigerians to support the Armed Forces in the ongoing campaign against the Boko Haram in the Northeast.
Responding, the spokesman for the deceased family, Mr. Oloice Kemenanabo, described the late pilot as one of the best in the country before the sad occurrence.
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