The Chief of Defence staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh, says any Nigerian soldier with a riffle cannot complain of being under-equipped. According to him, Nigerian soldiers enjoy free accommodation, transportation, Electricity and other pecks which those in the civil service do not enjoy. Badeh said this and more in an interview with the Defence Headquarters magazine recently.

We live in houses we don’t pay for accommodation, we have buses that bring troops to work every day and take them back home, we don’t pay for light, we don’t pay for water, our salaries are good compare to what is paid in the civil place, if someone with school certificate joins the Army, by the time he is five years in the service, his salary has doubled that of a graduate. Why do you think Nigeria is doing that for us? Nigeria is doing that for us because we have vowed that we will defend our nation if need be with our blood; so for a soldier to come up and say am not well equipped, yet you have a riffle; what do you want? You want APC, you want tanks? The basic weapon of an infantry man is riffle, so why should there be mutiny…” he said

Full interview after the cut...
For about 10 months now you’ve been on this saddle and of course from our vantage position as information managers we’ve heard a lot of encomiums, and applause coming from people who identify with the military and your achievements being the Chief of Defence Staff at a very critical period in our history; we are having insurgencies and security challenges almost in every nook and cranny of the nation. Sir how has it been piloting the affairs of the Nigeria Armed Forces?

Thank you for coming this morning and it’s my pleasure to meet you. It’s been about nine months really since I came here and it’s has also been challenges here and there. However, you know that when you are working with a very good team, things work seamlessly. The way I have been operating with the service chiefs have been quite harmonious and that’s why you don’t hear divergent voices outside because we talk as one, we act as one knowing that we have only one objective and that the objective is the interest of Nigeria. There is none of us that have any personal ambition or reason to act independently outside this broad objective. That’s why I said it has been very seamless, very good.

Sir, taking a look at the records, you are the 15th CDS and I don’t think any of those before you had it so challenging the way it’s been since you took over. Will you kindly give us your impression or assessment of the current security situation and how are you are really handling it?

You see, my belief is that God never gives you a load you cannot carry after all He is the one that made your neck. So if God knows that your neck is going to break He will not give you load that can break it. Quite honestly, it’s been very challenging but that’s what we are trained for. While I was I was the Chief of Air Staff, we were on this issue so moving over here only means that I can give advice or I can direct better because I already have a kind of first-hand experience of what we have been up against.


Not every person out there can carry what you are carrying and still be walking. Our readers will like to know what actually prepared you for the leadership position you are occupying now and even the ones you have occupied in the past. Was there anything spectacular about you that made you strong to face challenges like this and yet moving and smiling?

Being prepared for an office is sometimes a function of experience or grooming. If an officer for instance has been groomed all along and he discharges himself very well in every office he has occupied, then that’s the grooming am talking about. I was a Directing Staff at the Defence College, I was also Chief of Policy and Plans at the Air Force Headquarters, I was an Air Officer Commanding, then Chief of Air Staff before now. I believe this is enough grooming for anybody to function well in this kind of position. If you allow pressure to weigh you down as a leader; if a leader starts crying, then what do you expect the followers to do? They’ll run away; so under whatever circumstance, someone must keep his cool as you direct. Don’t forget that we have put people in harm’s way, they have gone to war; so, if I start crying, those people at the war front will say oh there’s no hope. But if we maintain very positive attitude, it means there is hope and they can see that there is hope. That is my inspiration. To give the leadership that is not afraid of either taking decisions, or not afraid of telling people to do this or do that because I am doing my own part. So I must maintain the positive attitude.

Sir, for some time now you have facing the daunting challenges curbing the excesses of terrorists in the North East and at a point the Government declared a state of emergency in that region; what is your assessment of the activities of the terrorists, the Government’s response and the role of the military so far?

There has been so much misgiving in Nigeria about the declaration of State of Emergency. Even in the constitution it is written that a state governor can request the president to declare state of emergency if the security situation in his state degenerates. So the declaration of a State of Emergency is not something primitive. The declaration of state of emergency is just a way of solving some very serious security challenges. It allows the military to arrest people and keep them beyond 24hours or beyond 48hours; it allows you to conduct searches without having to obtain search warrant and if you remember when this insurgency started in the North East, we were doing house searching in Maiduguri Metropolis. That is the leverage the State of Emergency gave us; we go from place to place to carry out counter-terrorist operations without any inhibition. It gave us right to place curfew in towns and curtail people’s rights and that has actually allowed us to curtail and contain the activities of these terrorists. By and large, the state of emergency has been a success and by the grace of God, I don’t think we are going to look for another extension of state of emergency because with the way we are going we are doing very well.

You agree with us that the security problem we have in Nigeria is not just in the North East; if we go to the Niger Delta for instance, we have the issue of theft of our oil and other marmite assets. The DHQ rightly established a couple of Joint Taskforces to take care of these obstacles. How much have these Joint Taskforces like the Operation Pulo Shield in the Niger Delta and Operation Safe Haven on Plateau established in response to security threats achieved the role for which they are set up?

Let me say something before I answer your question. For a long time, Nigerians were not been able to express themselves because of the kind of regimes we have had in the past. However, with democracy comes openness and virtually everybody can express themselves. I want to say that in fact the Nigeria Armed Forces is today very much part of our democratic experience and is helping to deepen that credential. In Jos, Plateau State, we had all this communal clashes and you now that that thing was purely political and that’s why I said that democratic space have enabled everybody to everybody to express themselves and so you have the good, the bad and the ugly. Now in the North East, we are actually facing the ugly. And it started moving on the Plateau before the north east. On the Plateau, we had all these communal clashes and you know that that thing was purely political. That’s why I said with openness people started demanding for their own kind of thing to express themselves and that’s what happened in Jos. In the Niger Delta it’s the same thing, ‘resource control’, ‘it is our own…’ and so on. That is the openness which is no longer like those days so when the excesses became too much in the Niger Delta, we had to establish the JTF which has had various stages; right now we have operation Pulo Shield over there. We have gone from trying to stop the militants from saying everything is their own, we are into the business of trying to stop illegal bunkering and stealing of our common wealth. That’s what Op pulo Shield is doing there and I can tell you it’s been very successful. I must commend the Nigerian Navy for their wonderful effort down there. We also have a very serious person as the Commander of Operation Pulo Shield, Major General Atewe. He calls me virtually every night and tells me what he’s doing and I thank God too that we have a Chief of Naval Staff who has never been in support of this stealing of our corporate wealth in the Niger Delta. He promised that he was going to stamp out that theft and he’s doing everything he can to stop it.


http://lindaikeji..com/

Useless man look at his size unprofessional. How do you expect this man to fly a jet. So everyone that has a riffle is automatically a soldier or what is this man saying does he have a clue about what is coming out of his brains.

"any Nigerian soldier with a riffle cannot complain of being under-equipped. According to him, Nigerian soldiers enjoy free accommodation, transportation, Electricity and other pecks which those in the civil service do not enjoy."

How on earth can we win this battle when this man is say this rubbish. Why can't he fly the presidential jet to baga because it is running on a jet engine. This is one of the reasons we are where we are right now. You will think people like him will use their brains before talking he is using his belly instead. You expect people with riffle to face rocket launcher ?

Is this man for real
His counterparts around the world provides even Night vision glasses for their troops, And for crying out load, The Kalashnikov is becoming outdated; There are better assault rifles out there.

One of the people making Gej's government look clueless

There lies the problem.
When you have people who do not even know their job specification,This is what you get.
A lack of responsibility,accountability and ability.
From Jonathan all the way to the dullard they employ to troll social network site with lies.
These fools have never been to the frontlines .
They sit in their air-conditioned offices,wear uniforms and play make believe soldiers.
In reality, they could as well be NURTW boss.
In fact,area boys are better commanded by their area their thug bosses

slimfit1:
Useless man

Better than you

Haba sir. A man using an AK47 against triple a fire
A soldier with 2 mag facing a suicide BH operative with GPMG
A soldier with no air cover in 21 century
A soldier with No comm
Sir the AK47 rifle is not a game changer alone
Stop the corruption n provide basic combat survival gears

Proof that Nigerian military is over equipped


http://m.mobogenie.com/sharedetail/video.htm?

IbnSultaan:
Haba sir. A man using an AK47 against triple a fire
A soldier with 2 mag facing a suicide BH operative with GPMG
A soldier with no air cover in 21 century
A soldier with No comm
Sir the AK47 rifle is not a game changer alone
Stop the corruption n provide basic combat survival gears

Chai Chai Chai!!!!!

Clueless Chief of Defense Staff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El-O37TNIm4


PLease make una. Watch this vidEo of weapons seized from nigeria soldiers by boko haram, and tell me whether 9ja soldiers are under equipped like the media will make us believe.

barcanista:
Chai Chai Chai!!!!!

Clueless Chief of Defense Staff

Watch the YouTube of Baga attack to confirm that the military is over equipped

The guy just exposed himself.

Clueless everywhere. Vote for Buhari to stop all these incompetence.

APC OlOdos

Watch the YOUTUBE attack on Baga and you will see how over equipped the military is


Even shecow confirmed that the weapons are enough to wage a war

OlOdos

Watch the YOUTUBE attack on Baga and you will see how over equipped the military is

egift:
Clueless everywhere. Vote for Buhari to stop all these incompetence.

otokx:
The guy just exposed himself.

Stealing is not corruption o!
nwobodo stole money not even enough to buy a peugeot
and then this one...

well any aggrieved person may sit on a stove if frustrated.

IbnSultaan:
Haba sir. A man using an AK47 against triple a fire
A soldier with 2 mag facing a suicide BH operative with GPMG
A soldier with no air cover in 21 century
A soldier with No comm
Sir the AK47 rifle is not a game changer alone
Stop the corruption n provide basic combat survival gears

Is the CDS telling lies?

barcanista:
Chai Chai Chai!!!!!

Clueless Chief of Defense Staff

Please tell us how?

otokx:
The guy just exposed himself.

How did he?

Henry120:


Is the CDS telling lies?

Don't mind him

If you see the quantities of ammunition those cowards abandoned to BH, you will pity GEJ

Despite GEJ efforts to equip the cowards, they just run at the slighted sound



It pains guys like me who seek war since childhood being cheated because we lack connection

BlackTechnology:


Better than you

I never get time for people like you yet.

quote author=BlackTechnology post=30007328]

Don't mind him

If you see the quantities of ammunition those cowards abandoned to BH, you will pity GEJ

Despite GEJ efforts to equip the cowards, they just run at the slighted sound



It pains guys like me who seek war since childhood being cheated because we lack connection [/quote]

You this idiot don't you know that those weapons are the weapons America gave to people fighting Gadaffy and the once Gadaffiy bought for his army. You think those soldiers don't know the difference from the sounds they makE. Go s

I don't know cluelessness can easily spread like ebola...... So quick, you have been becloud by cluelessness. Why don't you leave your office, enter sambisa forest with a riffle and bring out Shekau's head. Your stupidity doesn't make you realise the soldiers dying are father to some children in this country. I 'm certain you must be ranked among top 3 most stupid general in the world. Bastard son of a thousand fathers

slimfit1:

I never get time for people like you yet.

crownprince102:
I don't know cluelessness can easily spread like ebola...... So quick, you have been becloud by cluelessness. Why don't you leave your office, enter sambisa forest with a riffle and bring out Shekau's head. Your stupidity doesn't make you realise the soldiers dying are father to some children in this country. I 'm certain you must be ranked among top 3 most stupid general in the world. Bastard son of a thousand fathers

Can you make that comment before him

E coward bragging behind his phone/ laptop/ computer

BlackTechnology:


Don't mind him

If you see the quantities of ammunition those cowards abandoned to BH, you will pity GEJ

Despite GEJ efforts to equip the cowards, they just run at the slighted sound



It pains guys like me who seek war since childhood being cheated because we lack connection

Thank you.

People keep peddling this false claim that Nigerian troops are under-equipped.

Yeah, I also saw the video, and like you I was saddened. We have never had and under-equipped military. We didn't have one yesterday, neither do we today, and we surely won't tomorrow.

My Major concern at the moment is, those shell rounds can be used to make IED's. A blast radius from these shells would make propane gas bombs look like "a walk in the Park".

In gombe an intercepted suicide bomber was arrested with shell rounds rigged as an IED. As for the SALW we shouldn't be to bothered by them.

It's the problem of nepotism we have in our country. Same issues COAS K.J minnimah was alluding to.

slimfit1:
quote author=BlackTechnology post=30007328]

Don't mind him

If you see the quantities of ammunition those cowards abandoned to BH, you will pity GEJ

Despite GEJ efforts to equip the cowards, they just run at the slighted sound



It pains guys like me who seek war since childhood being cheated because we lack connection

You this idiot don't you know that those weapons are the weapons America gave to people fighting Gadaffy and the once Gadaffiy bought for his army. You think those soldiers don't know the difference from the sounds they makE. Go s

Have you watched the Baga YouTube attack.?

Yes or No

BlackTechnology:


Can you make that comment before him

E coward bragging behind his phone/ laptop/ computer

Where do you want me to brag in your mothers as ?

I choose to brag in this platform tell him to do the same if they born am well. He is not a fully trained military man so I choose this platform mr man . If he was theniii

BlackTechnology:





Can you make that comment before him

E coward bragging behind his phone/ laptop/ computer

Like I said, cluelessness spread like ebola, in few second, this nigga has contracted it. Get well soon bro.

Henry120:


Thank you.

People keep peddling this false claim that Nigerian troops are under-equipped.

Yeah, I also saw the video, and like you I was saddened. We have never had and under-equipped military. We didn't have one yesterday, neither do we today, and we surely won't tomorrow.

My Major concern at the moment is, those shell rounds can be used to make IED's. A blast radius from these shells would make propane gas bombs look like "kid's play.

In gombe an intercepted suicide bomber was arrested with shell rounds rigged as an IED. As for the SALW we shouldn't be to bothered by them.

It's the problem of nepotism we have in our country. Same issues COAS K.J minnimah was alluding to.

The Connection policy inscribed on the recruitment form should be eradicated as the first step in recruiting committed soldiers.

Henry120:


Is the CDS telling lies?

Soldiers enjoy the privilege he mention.
So also his words on the infantry man.
But asymmetric welfare is not just abt the man and his rifle in the 21 century. It is those other factors that compliment them. That makes the different and gives him an extra edge over the bad Guy

BlackTechnology:



The Connection policy inscribed on the recruitment form should be eradicated as the first step in recruiting committed soldiers.

I agree.

slimfit1:
quote author=BlackTechnology post=30007328]

Don't mind him

If you see the quantities of ammunition those cowards abandoned to BH, you will pity GEJ

Despite GEJ efforts to equip the cowards, they just run at the slighted sound



It pains guys like me who seek war since childhood being cheated because we lack connection

You this idiot don't you know that those weapons are the weapons America gave to people fighting Gadaffy and the once Gadaffiy bought for his army. You think those soldiers don't know the difference from the sounds they makE. Go s

thanks. To win the war. We must be able to stop BH supply channel
So also provide troops with the ability to rapidly deploy men and heavy fire power to protect safe zones and base under attack
The military is doing a lot but all component must be in place to win
Intel
Aircover
Firepower etc

See syria n iraq. Isil is still a threat aftr tonnes of explosive have been use to degrade its assets. Y cause the Ground ops is not efficient.