There is no Nigerian soldier who is ready to die for Nigeria. The army is completely useless, indiscipline, corrupt , underfunded and inefficient. A casual visit to the barrack shows army personnel who are high on cocaine, indian hemp and other illicit drugs. They are the biggest drug abusers in Nigeria.

The conflict in Niger delta expose the weakness of the Army. They cannot fight and are scared of the militant. Many soldiers would do anything to avoid been posted to the Niger delta. The only thing the Nigerian army can do is to brutalise and kill fellow unarmed Nigerian; that was exactly what they did in ODI. Now that the militants are armed, our army are on the run. Sometime last year, the militant attacked a barrack in Port-Harcourt, all the army and their family ran away! To add insult to injury, the army is selling weapon to the militant.

This army just like the other government institution that make up this crazy and injustice country called Nigeria are doomed to collapse in the nest 50 years. Nigeria have sinned and come short of glory of God.

No Nigerian soldier willing to die for Nigeria? Where did you get that idea?

I strongly feel that the success of the millitants is due more to the element of surprise than any advanced tactics or superior training.

Imagine this scenario
10 soldiers have been manning a checkpoint for 3 weeks. Everyone knows there are 10 soldiers there. Everyone knows where they hide (behind a sand bunker). Thier main defense is a heavy duty machine Gun mounted on top of the sand bank, with secondary assault rifles. It's relatively easy for even a poorly trained band of 40 armed men to kill all the soldiers.
In this scenario, from the cover of nearby bushes three millitants pop up and fire RPGs at the sand bunker, targeting the gun emplacement. The explosion destroys the gun, killing 3 soldiers. As the remaining 7 try to react, they are caught in a crossfire from the 30 millitants in hiding. In a minute the battle is over.

This scenario is common place in the delta. Most victories these guys claim are from ambush situations.

In an even pitched battle the JTF usually comes away with the upper hand.

Go to NDA and ask them this question?

@Poster, I have never actually met a Nigerian soldier willing to die for Nigeria. Majority of those I grew up around were more interested in the perks that came with the job.

it is easier for an elephant to pass through the eye of a needle than to find a Nigerian soldier willing to die for Nigeria.


it took the army less than 24 hours to razed dawn the entire Odi, because they are attacking innocent civilian; women and children , unarmed. Now the people are armed, the fight is fair, 3 years later, they are unable to do anything. Even their barrack had been attacked, they are running helter skelter like cowards that they are.

what sort of army sells weapon to its enemy!!!!  the Nigerian army.

question:@poster so why did they join the army then?

What affects the army also affects the whole citizens of the Nation. Tell me Mr. Poster would you like to die for Nigeria if you happen to be part of this Army?

SENATOR JD:

question:@poster so why did they join the army then?

I wonder how you can join the Nigerian Army if you are not ready to defend the nation

In the army, death is 'nothing'

It's not enough that he starves while at his job? He should also die? Nigeria hasn't come to that.

If the author wants them to fight at the delta, it invariably means WAR!

The ARMY shouldn't just rush there like that.

These militants know the creeks more than the army.

Nigeria 'll lose at the end of the day - like you know, Angola is tracking us too!

Many soldiers would avoid the delta

the delta is more dangerous than sudan or. . .?

back when i was in school , people were intrested in the army because it meant they might one day be governor, minister, etc. have you forgotten that we had a stark raving illiterarte as minister of works and housing. that was all the motivtion for people to be in the army back then. i actually agree in some part with the poster - your typical nigerian soldier is a law unto himself, a thug with agun at his most menacing when facing down bloody civilains. even if you could take on one in a fight , his brothers would materilaize to uneven the odd and beat the crap out of you.

that said, the success of mend has little to do with their military skills. they too are just thugs with guns. the government needs to work on true soldiering - intelligence gathering and premption, not all this reactive behavior.

But one thing that MENDS still seems to have was the poster questioning whether it can still be found in the Nigerian Army. The Nigerian Army is as useless as the Nigerian Police. They can only attack you when you look, to them, defenceless. I will not blame them if they decide not to die for Nigeria but, it's a pity they will definitely die of Nigeria

Are the soldiers not drawn from amongst us?

Why do we expect the soldiers to be more patriotic than we are? They will do their jobs but they wont be more patriotic than the general populace. Let's try and keep things real

You guys should stop saying what you know not of of the Nigerian Army!

oyb:

back when i was in school , people were intrested in the army because it meant they might one day be governor, minister, etc. have you forgotten that we had a stark raving illiterarte as minister of works and housing. that was all the motivtion for people to be in the army back then. i actually agree in some part with the poster - your typical nigerian soldier is a law unto himself, a thug with agun at his most menacing when facing down bloody civilains. even if you could take on one in a fight , his brothers would materilaize to uneven the odd and beat the crap out of you.

that said, the success of mend has little to do with their military skills. they too are just thugs with guns. the government needs to work on true soldiering - intelligence gathering and premption, not all this reactive behavior.

I remember the days of political soldiers too.

Is the soldier not just like the other Nigerian? except they use different tools. the average Nigerian wants to get to positions where he can make money and oppress ordinary citizens and the soldier also uses his position to oppress ordinary citizens. The pervading mentality within our society is one of oppressing those who dont have whatever we are privileged to have. Perhaps when we change that attitude, we will have a different kind of Army and a different kind of Police force.

It's a societal thing

i think u gys should be eally careful about what you dont know about,where did you learn that the nigerian army are not ready to lay down their life?have you checked their records in all the peace keeping missions abroad?they have had consistently excellent records and gotten awards for bravery in every case,u cannot compare corrupt army geneals with the rank and file or mid level officers,and as for the niger delta having the element of suprise that isnt the only reason they millitants have an upper hand,the reason is because they know the terrain better than any outside force(vietnam and the american army comes to mind)and remember the local inhabitants of these areas are in support of the millitants so they will always shield and envelope them in a cloak of invinsibility anytime theres danger, we should be like other nations and be proud of our soldiers,look at the ameicans and how they treat their soldiers

what is soldering all about if not to defend a nation at the cost of your life?

@lucabrasi
Do the Nigerian Army know the terrains of all the country they've been for peace keeping mission than its home - Niger-Delta?
If they can succeed in peace keeping mission abroad up to the extent of getting international awards why not keep the peace in their home - Niger Delta. I think should begin at home.

I think the Nigerian Military is being very careful about the Niger delta situation.

There is a thin Line between what is going on there now and a full scale war. It is most difficult to fight war against your country men. A battalion of the Nigerian Army has representatives of all the regions of the country,including the south-south.

How do you convince, a bayelsa infantry soldier to lead an assault in the Niger delta? As far back as 2003, a captain friend of mine told me that some of his soldiers of South-south origin disappeared when there was a confrontation with the millitants.

Learning from our unfortunate history ( 1967-1970), I guess you will understand why the military is arm twisted about the present situation.


@ Topic:
A Nigerian soldier just like most Nigerians will not do anything solely based on patriotism.

Just like
A Nigerian Bankers that aids the transfer of loot to foreign Banks ( Or how did you think Abacha carried the loot to Swiss banks)
A Nigerian Abroad, who just sits behind a computer and condemn the system without taking any constructive action
A Nigerian Teacher , who tell students to settle before passing

abdurrazaq

Do the Nigerian Army know the terrains of all the country they've been for peace keeping mission than its home - Niger-Delta?
If they can succeed in peace keeping mission abroad up to the extent of getting international awards why not keep the peace in their home - Niger Delta. I think should begin at home

.

could you remind me of the mission abroad were they got award? Nigerian foreign policy in Liberia was a complete madness. Babangida spent millions of dollars preventing Charls Taylor from taking over the country, while Abacha spent millions helping to install Taylor as the president. during the war the Nigerian soldier return home with lots of electronic goods and other items from the war, mostly looted. Same story in Sierra Leone

luca, deor, noetic

good talk

and they are the best in africa ehn?

@bilymuse, that was not my original word.I was jsut responding to lucabrasi. He actually stated that they have awards or something like that.

abdul

Have you forgotten that the major role of the Army is to protect the nation from External forces?

What the police/JTF is doin' there is normally the work of the Police.

It;s only in state of emergencies that the Army interferes in internal crisis; and that's what UMYA has made it

Mustay

how can you defend an army who are selling weapons to the militant, who now use the same weapon to kill their fellow soldier. its pathetic

it took them just 24 hours to level Odi, 3 years later they couldn't defeat the militant. For your information the Obasanjo regime declare war on the militant as far back as 2005. The military were told to eliminate the militant, by all necessary means. Part of the Niger delta were placed under the direct control of the army command.

the Nigeria army is too corrupt and indiscipline to win a war.

@ bilymuse

Read this
We’re not at war with militants – Military
From DENNIS MERNYI, Abuja
Tuesday, June 24, 2008


•Niger Delta militants
Photo: Sun News Publishing
More Stories on This Section

The Nigerian Armed Forces have explained that they are not at war with the militants in the Niger Delta who have been blowing up oil installations and kidnapping people in the region, saying that their presence in the area was to protect innocent Nigerians rather than fight the militants.

They also ruled out a full scale attack on the militants and said they cannot turn their weapons against their country men when the matter could be amicably settled.

Speaking in Abuja on Monday when he paid a courtesy visit on the Editor, Northern Operations of The Sun Newspapers, Mr. Eric Osagie, the Acting Defence Director of Information, Navy Captain Sinebi Hungiapuko said, “we don’t have the powers to automatically flush them out.”

He informed that as a military, they can only launch a flush out attack on those militants when they receive orders from the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, President Umaru Musa Yar Adua to do so.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2008/jun/24/newsbreak-24-06-2008-001.htm

abdurrazaq:

@lucabrasi
Do the Nigerian Army know the terrains of all the country they've been for peace keeping mission than its home - Niger-Delta?
If they can succeed in peace keeping mission abroad up to the extent of getting international awards why not keep the peace in their home - Niger Delta. I think should begin at home.

when u say home its very relative because a soldier from sokoto being drafted to the niger delta cannot know the terrains like a native niger deltan millitant,and if you checked the example i gave vietnam was similar as well,that was the only war the united states lost in spite of the huge amount of lives lost on both sides, when it comes to guerrilla war fare the natives will always have the upper hand because they grew up there,they have the support of the various hamlets and villages and as long as the traditional leaders and villagers dont give them up then its next to impossible to capture them.

abdurrazaq:

@bilymuse, that was not my original word.I was jsut responding to lucabrasi. He actually stated that they have awards or something like that.

yes they do have awards for their mission abroad,the dude is just picking liberia out of several campaigns they v had abroad,and who says they didnt do a good job in liberia?certainly not the liberians,im too lazy to look for the facts online now but they performed well in their millitary campaigns.
how many members of the nigerian army sold weapons?only a select few sold weapons pls lets not generalise,go and check the history of the american army,after they stopped selling millitary weapons to iran rogue elements amongst them were smuggling weapons and selling to the irans,go on ggole and u ll see several stings the fbi made from the late 1970s untill the 1980s, millitants apart from being trained millitia do not live in a normal village like odi so they r two diffrent issues also soldiers onli obey command

The truth is dat nobody wants to die but when you have seen people die you would then be cautious of death. Any legit army should be aware of death. With dat said, if you send inexperienced soldiers that have not been to any major riot or unrest not to talk of niger delta or outside Nigeria; then you will have sloppy people that will spoil the show.
They should add more soldiers to those already there and give warnings to anyone caught with a gun; Like literally send more than half of the force that are in Nigeria at this time to Niger Delta and if they play their card right, this disturbance could end sooner like in three months from my point of view.
In reality, the crooks that disturb niger delta will disappear in the coming days because they don't want to die. They have been eating all those kidnapping money and feeling good siphonning and distrupting/disturbing the state; This decision will really mess them up because they cannot settle every unit assigned there.
If the army were sensible more than I wish they could be, they should minimize innocent casualties, use intelligence and satelite, be patriotic, harrass less, and bring back peace and stability. The government needs to begin making sure the army is getting good salaries and also make good use of the situation by beginning more than fifteen different major projects at the same like building new schools, hospitals, police stations, roads, bridges, libraries, transportation, sea port, and power. This way the army can have rotations being contractors and army so that when they resign or retire they can have something to do. The financial means can be met by using about 95% of every kobo gotten
from the region till the end of the year; somebuildings need years to build but the contracts would have somehow been awarded to a sincere third party that would give the rest of the money when the jobs are completed so that work will continue until completed and inspected. Also that way, the people that live in niger delta(including the crooks from the militants to their chiefs) who also want to work can be part of the development. If Nigerian government spends 95% of the revenues there for six months and then continues the 13% allocation, Niger delta would be developed in no time because the infrastructure would be there for private companies and corporations (locally or not).
The government should use this opportunity to accelerate Nigeria and I pray that the president and the army are given the necessary wisdom to judge right and unite Nigeria. This is a state blessed with natural resources for the nation; and not because the government is corrupt means that it is yours. If your father gives you and ur siblings something to SHARE you don't clinge to it because it is in ur hand and he's drunk to remind/reinforce you.

How can you say Nigerian countries are not willing to die for Naija? Yeah I know . . . . but . . .

I am always boasting to my other African friends that Nigerian soldiers are quick to shut shit down whenever there is a civil war in Africa. From Liberia to Sierra Leone, our soldiers are shutting shit down with a quickness.

In Nigeria, why do people join the army?

People don't join the army to lose their lives.
They join the army because they believe the benefits of joining outweigh the risks.
This is exactly the same in every country.
This entire discussion is misguided.

Seun:

People don't join the army to lose their lives.
They join the army because they believe the benefits of joining outweigh the risks.
This is exactly the same in every country.
This entire discussion is misguided.

But dying is a huge possibility and u must be prepared to accept that in order for u to join any army

Nigerian soldiers are amongst the most professional in the world and its unfortunate they are being dragged into the mess that was created by our political vagabonds. The situation in the niger delta requires a political and sincere approach alas what exists is a case of the "leaders" enriching themselves through a calculated confusion scenario. Those militants are being supplied arms by the very people that are sending this unfortunate soldiers to their certain wattery graves.