Corruption in the Nigerian Army might be the biggest impediment to the fight against Boko Haram insurgency say rank and file soldiers

By Iro Dan Fulani

Ibrahim Garba, (name has been changed for his protection), a non-commissioned officer in the Nigerian Army is a very angry man. As he speaks, his voice throbs with anger. He has been a soldier for over a decade and returned from a foreign mission about two years ago, after which he was deployed to the North east, where Boko Haram insurgents launched a terrorist campaign in 2009.

In the first few months of his deployment, he received a monthly allowance of N30,000. Suddenly, over a year ago, even as the war against the insurgents intensified, his allowance was cut to N15,000. No explanations have been given to him and his colleagues about the pay slash.

“Unlike before, our allowances are not being paid in full. Instead of the N30,000 monthly allowance we used to get, we now get N15,000. Somebody is sitting comfortably in Abuja, stealing our money, and we are here facing Boko Haram fire every day. God will judge them,” said the soldier in a voice thick with despondency.

Moses Adeleke, (again, not real names) is another soldier serving in the crisis-riven North east. He is similarly bitter. To him, the federal government and the Army have practically abandoned the troops fighting the insurgents.

Having served for more than 18 months in Borno and Yobe axis fighting insurgents, daily leaving the army base without knowing if he would return alive, he paints a grim picture of the situation of the soldiers confronting well-armed Boko Haram fighters daily.

First, Adeleke says the soldiers’ daily ration of mainly a miserable mess of pottage is inadequate for a 10 year old, an uncomplicated indication that the troops are poorly fed.

“Many of us have to find means of buying food to supplement our ration. In this place, where we have to be alert 24 hours, where, sometimes, we go out for over 24 hours on military campaign, food should not be an issue. But they just don’t care”, he says.

Also, in the oppressive desert heat, Adeleke says soldiers officially get only three sachets of water to quench their thirst, a situation which leaves many of them thirsty and dehydrated most of the day.

The story told by Garba and Adeleke exemplifies the experience of many of the Nigerian troops fighting insurgency, many of who accused the military high command of corruption and deliberately frustrating the war against terror for pecuniary reasons.

The soldiers, whose identities cannot be disclosed because of their safety, spoke to the icirnigeria.org reporter over several weeks in two of the states currently under emergency rule in the Northeast.

The disenchanted soldiers painted a sorry picture of the condition of the troops who are expected to confront well-armed Boko Haram insurgents and concluded that the Nigerian government is not serious about the war against terrorism.

They expressed the opinion that the insurgents, could be defeated in a matter of weeks, even days, but alleged that corruption and greed on the part of military authorities, who are benefitting from the on-going crisis, will not let that happen.

According to them, there is no way poorly fed and inadequately armed soldiers, can defeat the insurgents, whose strong homicidal will is augmented by better weaponry.

It was alleged that deliberate acts of corruption are being perpetrated to enrich military commanders at the detriment of troops’ welfare and morale, thus undermining the war on terror.

Many of the soldiers that spoke to our reporter confirmed Garba’s allegation that the troops get only N15,000 out of the N30,000 due to them, accusing the field commanders of short changing them.

But soldiers also believe that the corruption that is affecting the effectiveness of the war on terror goes beyond the field commanders, as there are operational deficiencies militating against their efforts, which could not be without the knowledge of the defence high command in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

A very good example of corruption from the top, they insist, is the merging of the operations of many units and their areas of operation. It is alleged that though the government provides money for different battalion of troops to operate in different places, army commanders in the field ensure that up to two or three units share the same operational structure so as to save costs. The problem is that the money saved goes into the pockets of a few people, but the situation not only impacts negatively on welfare and morale of troops. It also ultimately undermines the campaign against terrorists.

Our reporter learnt that three separate army units, which are supposed to have different camps and areas of operation, have been kept in one military base along Mubi Road in Mubi local government area of Adamawa State for a long time.

The units are the Special Operations Battalion, SOB; Forward Operation Battalion, FOB; and Task Force Mike, TFM, which are all camped in the same base in Mubi.

Soldiers alleged that the military authorities receive appropriations for each unit to operate independently, but by keeping all three together in one camp, the commanders “make money for themselves but it means that they all cover the same area of operation”.

At a time when troops are needed in many places all at the same time, this, they opined, cannot be based on sound judgement.

It was gathered that the SOB was formed in response to increasing attacks by Boko Haram and located in Mubi over a year ago. The troops in the battalion, including officers, were selected from various army formations around the country.

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-corrupt-army-commanders-undermine-fight-against-boko-haram/

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