Army enlists 25,600 as 6,700 soldiers quit in five years over fear of Boko Haram
The Nigerian Army has said it enlisted a total of 25,655 into the military outfit in the last five years.
A total of 6,752 were also discharged within the period.
The Army also said soldiers were quitting the service mainly due to “lack of commitment,” noting that soldiers often resigned when they were to be deployed in the North-East for the war against insurgency.
These were made known in a report by the House of Representatives Committee on Army, which was laid on February 24, considered and adopted on March 2, 2021.
The PUNCH had reported exclusively on July 12, 2020, that no fewer than 356 soldiers in the North-East and other theatres of operation had applied to the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai (retd.), for voluntary retirement, citing “loss of interest” as their reason for disengagement.
Consequently, the House resolved on July 14, 2020, to investigate the alleged mass exodus of soldiers from the Nigerian Army, warning that it would worsen the security crises across the country.
The report by The PUNCH had stated that the soldiers wrote to the Army chief on July 3, 2020, under Reference NA/COAS/001, quoting the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service soldiers/rating/airmen (Revised) 2017.
The approval of the voluntary disengagement of the 356 soldiers was contained in a 17-page circular from Buratai, AHQ DOAA/G1/300/92, signed by Brig-Gen T. E. Gagariga for the Army chief.
The document was reported to have been copied to Headquarters, Theatre Command, Operation Lafiya Dole, Borno State; the Headquarters of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 81, and 82 Divisions of the Nigerian Army; and other formations.
The committee, in the report, said it had an interactive session with the Nigerian Army on July 23, 2020.
In attendance was the Director, Military Personnel, Army Headquarters, Brig.-Gen. U. T. Musa, who represented the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.).
The report quoted the former Chief of Army Staff as having submitted that discharge from the army is a regular and routine activity
According to him, the case of 365 soldiers who voluntarily resigned from the Army “is one of such.”
Buratai was quoted to have said the idea that the soldiers resigned as a result of general discontentment in the army was false and reportedly maintained that “some mischievous fellows must have laid their hands on the leaked document containing the names of voluntarily discharged soldiers for the second quarter of 2020 and misrepresented it as a case of mass resignation.”
According to the report, the army informed the committee that there were basically two types of discharge from the service, namely voluntary discharge and compulsory discharge. Punch
