Nigerian Army Perestroika : Ministry of Defence Releases Soldiers Operational Allowance
The Oasis Reporters
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Nigerian Soldiers of today are a lucky breed. They have more freedom to air their views and rattle their commanding officers, leading to even the sanctions on some high ranking officers.
In the aftermath of an anonymous letter released in the social media about their operational difficulties including the backlog of unpaid allowances that has turned the rank and file into food beggars, the Army high command has announced ahead of implementation that soldiers will receive their emoluments this week.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said funds have been released from the Ministry of Defence to pay the outstanding operational allowances of troops fighting Boko Haram for the third quarter of 2017.
In a release signed by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, said tyehe army would this week begin the payment of “allowances owed the troops for the last two months accordingly.”
The letter that sparked this reaction was written by a soldier currently attached to Operation Lafiya Dole, the military anti-insurgency operation in the North-East, to President Muhammadu Buhari, lamenting the poor welfare of troops.
The anonymous soldier, who claimed to be a private in Damaturu, Yobe State, had alleged that soldiers in the frontline were being poorly treated as a result of massive corruption in the army.
“Your Excellency, this is the third month in a row that we have been denied of our operational allowances. We have to rely only on our meagre salary for everything. From battalion commanders to company and sector leaders, we are all in debt, because our salaries are not enough to sustain us at the battlefield, let alone feeding our families back at home,” he had written.
Buratai, on Monday, while confirming that some troops were owed allowances, assured the soldiers of maximum welfare, noting that their “unflinching loyalty, perseverance and dedication to duty brought the desired success in the fight against terrorism, insurgency and other criminal activities.”
Buratai said this in a letter sent to various formations and corps commanders, as well as commanders of the various training institutions of the army on Sunday.
The statement by the army spokesman, Usman, partly read, “The COAS has assured troops, especially those on Operation Lafiya Dole of their welfare. This is coming from the good news of the release of funds for the payment of operational allowances and logistics for the third quarter of 2017 from the Ministry of Defence,” according to report by Punchng.com.
Who do soldiers have to thank for this new openness in the army today?
1. The Social Media.
They made the anonymous letter go viral and read around the globe. The indignation it caused was more than enough stench for the high command and the allowances were speedily released.
2. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a former army General and Head of State.
He was smarting from the humiliation he received from former Head of State, General Sani Abacha who had him framed and sentenced to life in prison while his former deputy, General Shehu Yar’adua was sentenced to death over a phantom coup attempt that never was.
While Yar’adua was poisoned in jail and he died, Obasanjo was saved from execution by divine intervention.
A day before condemned coup plotters were to be executed, General Sani Abacha had a fatal cardiac arrest as he allegedly died atop two Indian prostitutes, according to government sources.
[Read also :
https://www.theoasisreporters.com/cardiac-arrest-at-38-tinubu-reveals-shocking-health-trend-amongst-nigerian-youths/ ]
Obasanjo was to be released later and he went on to be rail roaded into becoming a civilian president for eight years. He reformed the army, which was no longer the fabled, ‘a General is always right’.
The first test of Obasanjo’s reforms in the army occurred in Kano during one of Kano city’s past time for killing Christians and burning their homes whenever they feel aggrieved over any global happening that Muslims did not like, be it an insulting cartoon drawn in far away Denmark or a bomb blast in Afghanistan, they would look for thousands of Christians in their midst to slaughter.
When Obasanjo became Nigeria’s president, such incidences equally happened.
Then the Brigade Commander at Bukavu barracks ordered one Captain Abu to command some soldiers to fall into Kurna Asabe, a stone throw from the barracks and quell the killings of Christians, looting of their property and general arson on their homes. The soldiers were mixed, both Christians and Muslims, and where was Captain Abu to give the Operational order for troops to engage the rioters?
He had disappeared.
Soldiers watched helplessly as the arson, looting and killings were going on.
Angry soldiers marched back to the barracks, shouting, “Captain Abu is not loyal” in unison.
That did it. Abu was court martialed immediately and he lost his Commission in the army. His uniform was removed from his body and he became a bloody civilian in disgrace.
Soldiers have taken their perestroika in an era of glasnost.
