On Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 46 soldiers from the
234 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Monguno, Borno
State, who were involved in an auto crash in Siminti
village along Bauchi and Yobe states border, were
burnt to death when the vehicle in which they were
travelling collided with a petroleum tanker. The
victims were so much charred that it was not
possible to identify them individually. Hence the
Federal Government decided to bury them in the
National Cemetery, Abuja rather than their
respective hometowns, a decision that did not go
down well with the then government and some of the
family members of the deceased. The greatest
respect a nation can accord her soldier, who die in
active battle, is to recover his remains, identify him,
take the remains to his land of birth and give him 21
gun shots at his burial ground, saluting his courage
and patriotism for his nation.
It is against this background that the Defence
Headquarters (DHQ) decided to establish a DNA
Banking and Analysis Centre called the “Defence
Identification Centre (DIC)”. The DIC leverages a
state-of-the-art and unique technology for DNA
storage at room temperature.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, while
inaugurating the centre, located in the sprawling
Mogadishu Cantonment, said it was a giant stride
towards aiding in the identification of personnel
when the need arises. He stated that the event also
marks a significant milestone in the on-going efforts
of the Armed Forces to balance its pursuit of
professionalism with emphasis on human capital
development. The minister, noted that the
application of DNA technology, as a valuable
investigative tool to improve military identification
capabilities, has led to the development of a global
approach to medical preparedness in major incident
management and support. He pointed out that.
Armed Forces worldwide are keying into this trend. It
is heart-warming to note that the Nigerian Armed
Forces are also in the forefront of this lofty
achievement. The attendant destruction of modern
warfare and the imperative to bury fallen heroes in
marked graves call for the most effective and
technologically sophisticated approach (in identifying
their bodies). Just as it is necessary to identify
members of Armed Forces for administrative
purposes or identify casualties before burial, so it is
in civilian air crashes and terrorists attack leading to
mass civilian casualty situation.
Prof. Chukwu further noted that, Part of the problem
in situations of civilian casualties was giving the
bodies back to the families and for documentation
purposes. He called for collaboration with the Armed
Forces not only for routine purposes but also during
disasters, adding that, now that the Armed Forces is
going into high tech molecular diagnosis, it will be
important in the context of the recent challenges of
Ebola outbreak to extend this facility to other
diagnostic facilities.
In his remarks, the Minister of Defence, Lt.-Gen. Aliyu
Gusau (Rtd), said the establishment of the centre
marks a significant milestone in the military’s effort
in ascertaining the true identity of all its personnel as
it will help in restoring the dignity of the fallen
heroes even in death.
According to Gen. Gusau, “the ability to correctly
identify our deceased personnel in all circumstances
is a responsibility which we owe them and their
families. This he said will facilitate identification of
the deceased so they could be appropriately
recognized and honoured in accordance with their
religious beliefs, which is the wish of the bereaved
families and the will of the deceased. He emphasized
that the centre is also essential for the living
personnel in establishing the true paternity of
civilians and other relationship when the need arises.
General Gusau also said that the centre would save
the Federal Government and families of deceased
personnel time and resources involved in sending
samples abroad for DNA test.
Speaking at the event, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air
Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, explained the imperative
of the DNA centre, saying: “On few occasions when
multiple fatalities were recorded and individual
corpses could not be identified, mass burials were
resorted to. Such mass burials deny such heroes the
privilege of being buried properly while robbing the
bereaved families the honour and satisfaction of
seeing their loved ones being accorded befitting burial

another great stride by gej. carry go joor till 2019