From being one of the crackiest ,most courageous and result oriented troops to the present pitiable state.From an army capable if rubbing shoulders with the best in the world to a tool for election rigging , oil bunkering etc.
They were so badass that special punishments were usually reserved for Nigerian soldiers when they were captured wherever they were operating.
1)In Seirra leone , the army landed at Freetown airport at dawn in a number of Hercules C130 aircraft,took control of the airport and started fanning out into strategic positions in the city ;starting from the approaches to the airport.They battled street by street until the drove out the rebels out of Freetown.
In Somalia ,a platoon of Nigeria soldiers single handedly held and fought to the last man against a massive column of insurgents while the Europeans troop nearby ran away and left them to their fate.
In Liberia , Nigeria troops landed right into the middle of a senseless war with no clear friend or foe and fought block by block, city by city ,swamp by swamp ,jungle by jujngle.
Many lost their lives in the process . While the usual corruption was there ,but these men fought and fought hard.

What exactly has changed that they are unable to fight a group of terrorists who attack military bases in numbers (which means that conventional military methods can be used to destroy them )?

A few links
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/27/world/us-and-nigerian-troops-halt-somali-shootings.html

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19931019&slug=1726806

Hmmmmmm, comment reserved!

Abacha was not corrupt that is why he was able to intervene in Sierra Leone, Liberia etc.

Corruption is really killing us.

Uniformed beasts that's what they are....

they are being led by a clueless person
the Retardeen

The same thing that happens when a pride of lion is led by a sheep

jayseehe: they are being led a clueless person
the Retardeen

Many lower rank nigerian soldiers are muslims and boko haram sympathizers.

They are the ones selling out their colleagues and leaking operational information to boko

GEJ till 2019

When you do not fully know, define and understand the enemy then how will you conquer the enemy?

They wont fight cos there is no bokoharam.. they re d bokoharam

Time

Everytin changed when d started collecting their own #20

Nigeria.... Which way forward?
Seem we heading back and down

1.politicization of the armed forces by boko haram sympathizers
2.the infiltration of the rank n file of the Nigerian Armed Forces by boko haram members n dia henchmen.
3.use of outdated weapons n lack of modern operational techniques..
4.corruption
5.finally poor leadership(a sheep wl never lead its lamb to green pastures)

ichidodo: Life happened to them...The Nigerian Army of the military era was far much fiercer,brutal and decisive.

Or they never faced a formidable enemy like Boko haram.

People shouldnt confuse frequent acts of murder and massacres of d innocent with bravado. Those are crimes our troops are known to commit with AK47.

Boko haram is the army's first real test since the civil war and they have failed embarrassingly through mass desertion.

They want the airforce to just come and bomb boko haram so they can flee.

If boko haram was any more determined they would have taken Abuja by now.

You can't fight someone you don't know and can't see

Ur c in c is jst there 4 cash n carry nt chief in command....clueless man

They are not being motivated enough.Give the military boys what they need and u will see them in action.Those that fought insurgents in other countries were paid well then, they had sophisticated weapons but today reverse is the case.Maybe we should also call on military personals from other nations to fight the boko Rams since the Nigerian Military are afraid to confront them.

mrlaw93: They wont fight cos there is no bokoharam.. they re d bokoharam

In the language of mathematics: Boko haram is a subset of the Nigerian army

Nigeria army is now a capital disgrace. The only thing they know how to do is to harass innocent civilians. I vividly remember what they foolish soldiers did to us on wednesday of last week when a grenade was detonated in the city of kaduna.. We came into the city in the night to execute a project not knowing a coffee was in the state.

These foolish soldiers stopped us, one was even trying to shoot us. The only let us be when we showed em' our ID cards.

Nigeria army is a disgrace, they are also very corrupt just like the police

It is because this is almost like a guerrilla warfare with no clearly defined enemies

How can they die for a corrupt government.? As a barrack boy I can authoritatively tell you that the soldiers are not happy. This is because the one trillion budget which the govt spends on them bearly gets to them .
That's not even the main problem, the most dangerous issue is that the officers are politicians boot lickers .

ALL THE EXAMPLES U MENTIONED ARE WAR SITUATION...THIS IS A CASE OF TERRORISTS THAT OPERATE A KIND OF GUERILLA WARFARE...IF U ENGAGE THEM LIKE U SAID, THE COLLATERAL DAMAGE WILL BE ENOUGH TO SEND OUR PRESIDENT TO THE HAGUE.
THAT SAID, I WONT FAIL TO MENTION CORRUPTION TOO. COS THE WEAPON THEY USED IN FIGHTING THE LIBERIAN CIVIL WAR SINCE GOD KNOWS WHEN IS WHAT THEY ARE STILL USING. NO SINGLE UPGRADE IN MILITARY HARDWARE... THEIR ARMOURY IS SOO OBSOLETE AND CRYING FOR UPGRADE. THEY ARE KIND OF USING MARTIAL ARTS TO COMBAT AN ENEMY WHO USING A 21ST CENTURY MILITARY GRADE AMMUNITIONS..THATS WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR MILITARY ..THANK U ..IM OUTTA HERE

Aliyubest: How can they die for a corrupt government.? As a barrack boy I can authoritatively tell you that the soldiers are not happy. This is because the one trillion budget which the govt spends on them bearly gets to them .
That's not even the main problem, the most dangerous issue is that the officers are politicians boot lickers .

But when it comes to attacking Odi, Zak Ibiam and other non-northern places they suddenly become motivated even with LOW salary

Divided loyalty perhaps?
And fighting an ill defined enemy.

In Liberia, Somalia and sierra leone they were on a common front with defined objectives and targets.
But you cannot rule out ethnic and religious sentiments in Nigeria.

The Kind of war been faced by the Nigerian Army is relatively new to them, Gorilla war happens to be one of the hardest form of war to engage in. Your enemies can identify you but u can't identify your enemies

Also the Nigerian Army is filled with too many Saboteurs 4rm the rank and file to the officer cadre

Never the less Corruption has played significant role too that has led to the present sorry state of the Nigerian Army, imagine an officer is entitled to his normal allowance after an operation bt he won't get such allowance, and if he complains; mutiny charge would be leveled against him and the pot belly senior officer that has been eating his allowance won't b charged

I would say some (if not majority) of the soldiers are "religiously pathetic" to these terrorists and that makes the war an "emotional" one for them.

The Nigerian army I know will crush these terrorists within 30days. They have the man power and training but then, it's an emotional war for them.

The Nigerian Army is still strong when it goes for foreign peace-keeping.
However, blood is thicker than water. They have a stake in the Boko Haram saga. Some of the commanders are making millions from security votes; some of the foot-soldiers are sworn Bokoists.

quid:
In the language of mathematics: Boko haram is a subset of the Nigerian army

U reminded me of math 101

quid:
Many lower rank nigerian soldiers are muslims and boko haram sympathizers.

They are the ones selling out their colleagues and leaking operational information to boko

GEJ till 2019

You still believe there's a Muslim in nigeria that sympathizes with BH after the situation they put Islam in? Oh I forgot, you know the truth but regardless of it you just chose to hate the faith and it's followers, but don't worry we Muslims see BH as infidels so we killed them at sight just the way we eliminate anyone who's our enemy. I'm sure u know what I mean?

abokine:
You still believe there's a Muslim in nigeria that sympathizes with BH after the situation they put Islam in? Oh I forgot, you know the truth but regardless of it you just chose to hate the faith and it's followers, but don't worry we Muslims see BH as infidels so we killed them at sight just the way we eliminate anyone who's our enemy. I'm sure u know what I mean?

Please explain more
Because the muslims up north have been SILENTLY enjoying the boko carnage.

barackodam:

U reminded me of math 101

Na so my brother.

That will make Nigerian army the superset of boko haram