Application for ms for 59th Regular Recruits Intake into the Nigerian Army are now on sale nationwide. Interested applicatns are advised to purchase the form at the cost of N750 at the following centres across the country - All Intercontinental Bank branches, All Unity Bank bracnhes, Directorate of Army Recruitment, Bonny Cantonment, Victoria Island, Lagos. All Army formation headquaters and State/Local council headquaters. all completed applications forms are exprcted to reach various state recuritment centres on or before May 31st, while the recuitment exercise would kick off from June 4 to July 3, 2006. Check Guardian of Friday, May 5, 2006 Page 3. Interested Nairalanders should note.

I want to ask a question, what are the requirements for this recruitment, I mean the level of education, and age level?

eh?

You have to pay to join the army,

That seems really quite stupid to me.

Hunter:

eh?

You have to pay to join the army,

That seems really quite stupid to me.

Imagine man ! thnx 4 feeling me !
I just can not imagine how many people will actually pick the form cos they just do not have another way out

@TWINSTAIYE could you pls remind me of that web forum of which there are PRETTYWOMAN, BLACKRAVEN. COOLANT ?
I hope it's d same twinstaiye though !

Nigeria is really a twisted country. You must have connection or bribe your way into becoming a military officer. Coups were prevalent and you stand a good chance of landing a plum job in government, to line your pocket with public funds.
Hopefully, if our democracy is sustained, the military will revert to their natural role of defending the country and only those that have the calling will join. We might even see ads with incentives to lure people into the military.

beyonce1:

@TWINSTAIYE could you please remind me of that web forum of which there are PRETTYWOMAN, BLACKRAVEN. COOLANT ?
I hope it's d same twinstaiye though !

Yeah beyonce1, it is the same twinstaiye, and the forum is www.meetnigerians.net Why do you ask anyway?

and after serving Nigeria as an Army man, by the time you are 65years old, you will be lining up at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja for verification of your records. You might have to put up under a bridge just to make sure you are first in line the next morning.

Then one of the young-recruits wil ask you for your papers, look at you disdainfully and ask you "Are you sure you joined the Nigerian Army?"

Nija!!!

@TWINSTAIYE

Just wanted to confirm it's the same old you ! You are everywhere aren't ya ?

naija na wah, na only God go help job seekers. see this http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/from-the-homefront/come-join-the-nigerian-army.html

Come Join the Nigerian Army
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Written by Mutti Yovbi
Thursday, 19 April 2007


The Nigerian Army invited Nigerians aged 24 to 32 years to become officers through the Short Service Combatant Commission by an advertisement published in the Guardian Newspaper of Tuesday 17 April 2007 .

In that advertisement however, they expressly excluded women (extrapolating the census results this would be nearly 50% of eligible candidates) from availing of the opportunity to serve their nation in a capacity that may be desirable to them. It is disheartening that in this era, given international and national trends, we still have people (very likely men) in leadership positions, who through narrow mindedness and warped personal orientations will insist on denying fellow Nigerians their rights in full glare of a government that claims to subscribe to equality. This is the government of a nation that has committed to respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights. More frustrating is that the group that has been thus disenfranchised may not have the wherewithal to pick up on the injustice simply because of the levels of ignorance and the complete erosion of our collective will to uphold what is right. Justice and the mechanisms for accessing it in Nigeria is of course topic for a treatise and it will suffice to say that it is another fundamental right denied to the average Nigerian.

Back to the advert placed by the Nigerian Army. They also asked people shorter than 1.66m not to apply. In a country where the average height is only I.6 metres even for men, and where some tribal groups and families are vertically challenged by dint of genetics, this spurious requirement again excludes groups of Nigerians that may otherwise be eligible, willing and able to serve their nation.

I call it a spurious requirement because as far as I know the army, any army combatant or not, needs multiple and varied skill sets for which height is not a requirement. The extensive use of IT and machines in war only helps to support this argument for brains not brawn. Again, think that it is more difficult, many times dangerously so for tall people to eject from fighter jets than it is for their shorter colleagues and that tanks and submarines are not exactly built for giants or basket ball players. More pertinent is that the capacity for strategic thinking is not the exclusive preserve of the tall.

Another requirement for service with the Nigerian army, according to the advertisement, is a valid certificate of state of origin. Now I was born, bred and have lived in Nigeria, earning my livelihood from both the private and the public sector and I have never been asked nor do I know any one who has been asked for this particular certificate. So forgive me if I do not know what it is! Are you issued with one at birth or does it wait until you finish UBE or are legally adult? In recent times I started to come across people seeking state scholarships or bursaries looking for traditional rulers to sign documents (validity of which I question in the light of the Nigerian Constitution) that will prove that they are from specific local government areas. Needless to say a hefty fee, not just strong drink and cola nut, is charged for this service. Did I hear you say just another income stream for the boys? It is sad to acknowledge that traditional rulers have become senior area boys, paid to promote questionable ideals and direct civil unrests that further the interest of their government patrons.

Even if you must prove that you come from a locality to benefit from its largesse, the question to ask when it comes to the Nigerian Army is how do origins of your forebears help you to be a better soldier. My concern is if leaders within the Nigerian army are not capable of analytical thought and of applying it to their recruitment processes, why should we ever entrust them with the security of our nation.

It is all about money. The generals know that millions of Nigerian men (mostly young and desperate, many unquestioning and undiscerning) will jump at the chance to apply for a job that will make them what they hope will be a good living and maybe even a chance to become head of state. This is the reason no one will bother to ask why they need to pay a princely sum of N2,500 to access the Nigerian Army website in order to apply. A vast majority of those who would buy the scratch cards will still need to pay cyber café attendants to help them access application forms on-line, this in addition to the hourly rate charged for accessing the internet. Since the site, in the tradition of official websites will be heavy and slow, it will take forever and many nairas to download and complete. Also, once sent into cyber space the applicant will probably have no means of tracking his application status and will never know what, if anything was wrong so he can correct it in subsequent free applications to more open and transparent organisations. He will probably never even know if his application arrived.

Open and transparent – Yes the advert did not say why the Nigerian Army, a national institution that is funded by taxpayers and other national resources, needs to charge job applicants a fee. Don’t forget that security being of paramount importance to the Nigerian State gets the highest budgetary allocations, enough to buy Peugeot 307 cars for even inconsequential members of the armed forces as long as they go by the rank of officer. Watch this and other spaces. The Nigerian Army will never publish details of number of applications received, how much was realised from the exercise and how the money was spent. It is not the practice in Nigeria after all, to provide information to the public and the Nigerian Army is the one national institution that should not be answerable to the public, populated as it is by potential heads of state.

The advert gave indications of conditions of service. The hapless individuals that will be employed through this process will be placed on fixed term contracts and cannot be guaranteed conversion to regular commission whether or not their contracts are renewed. The conundrum is while contracted to the army, officers recruited through the short service combatant commission may only avail of justice in the military service court. This makes the employer both the judge and the jury in event of an employment or other dispute. The Nigerian Army with regard to its officers and men, makes the laws, then applies and enforces them. Still the young virile Nigerian man needs a job, even one that will put his life at risk. All we can hope is that, should death or disability happen, the Nigerian Army gives timely and commensurate compensation that is independent of contract type. It will of course depend on whether the people that run the army understand and accept that one life is as good as another, regular or short service.