₦airaland Forum

Military Authorities Owe Us Uniform, Boot Allowances, We Can’t Afford Housing Scheme – Soldiers Tell Army Chief

Aggrieved soldiers affected by the Nigerian Army’s controversial Welfare Housing Scheme have lamented that the army is owing them uniform and boot allowances and still wants to make deductions from their salary in the name of a housing scheme.

The soldiers, who spoke to SaharaReporters on Saturday on the condition of anonymity, said the official statement of the Nigerian Army that the soldiers were duly consulted on the scheme was not true as nobody sought their consent or opinions.

The soldiers also lamented that it was also a lie that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, met the scheme in the pipeline when he assumed office in January 2021, adding that the controversial housing scheme is his brainchild.

SaharaReporters had on Friday reported that some of the aggrieved soldiers wrote a save-our-soul letter to President Muhammadu Buhari over the Nigerian Army’s planned deduction of their salaries to pay for the “fraudulent Nigerian Army Welfare Housing Scheme.”

The soldiers – One sergeant, two corporals, two Lance Corporals and one Private – in the letter obtained by SaharaReporters had noted that the army planned to deduct between N15,000 and N49,000 monthly from their little salaries, which are not able to currently meet their needs.

The personnel said the Non-Commissioned Officers and the Senior Non-Commissioned Officers were the only ones affected, and they now find it difficult to feed their family and pay their children school fees “from our meagre salaries.”

They demanded that the army authorities reconsider the deductions.

In a reaction by the Nigerian Army’s Director of Public Relations, Brig-Gen Mohammed Yerima, the army authorities had claimed that the soldiers were duly consulted.

“The current Chief of Army Staff met an Army Housing Scheme in the pipeline and constituted a committee to understudy its feasibility and desirability. The committee subsequently designed the questionnaire for soldiers to bare their minds on the scheme and ascertain those interested in it. It was still at this stage of administering the questionnaire to soldiers that agent provocateurs seized the moment to demonise the scheme with toxic narratives,” the army’s spokesman had stated.

But speaking with SaharaReporters, some of the soldiers countered the army’s position that the housing scheme was an innovation to swindle the lower ranks of their meagre salary.

“This is a welfare housing policy proposed by the Chief of Army Staff for the other rank cadre which is to be compulsory and monthly deductions will be made from every soldier’s salary. No soldier was consulted on this. The officer cadre was exempted; besides, most of us have houses of our own. Our scarce skills allowance is N100,000 every month but we are short paid,” one of them said.

“There was no housing scheme in the pipeline that the new Chief of Army Staff met when he assumed office. No soldier was consulted, and questionnaires were not shared to sensitise or sample the opinion of troops.

“Our salary has not been increased; we still buy uniforms and boots for ourselves; we live in dilapidated buildings. We've not been paid a uniform allowance and boot allowance. You are deployed to a company, the company pays the sum of N150,000, but the Commanding Officer will pay each soldier N30,000,” another soldier said.

kmcutez:
Lol. I read very wide and dig deep. I even debate doctors and win and I’m a female, not a dude. Do you know I had to correct some of my doctor friends on how to treat metabolic syndrome/high blood sugar. Every online article and doctor will tell you to go with a diet of high fat/low sugar which will make you more insulin resistant in the long run.. I had to tell them to reverse the ratio to high starch/low fat. The mechanism is too complex for me to discuss online.

kmcutez:
Been long I read up on teeth whitening so I might have mixed up the terms. At least they got the idea that yellow teeth can be hereditary and teeth bleaching is not good for the teeth in the long run. It will end up ruining your teeth.

Meninmen:
Don't mind that dude. He probably went to read something online and he came here talking like a professional. Some of the things he wrote are true, but some others are wrong.

longetivity:
Hope you no nack her before signing

kmcutez:
I’m not a dentist. I think most stars wear veneers to protect their teeth and give the illusion of whiteness instead of messing with their teeth, which can further damage their enamel, dentin etc.

moscobabs:
Who white tooth helps?

My tooth teeth are not white but never smell and ladies like it that way.

complexBoss12:
This guys just broke the Bro Code

By the time he comes out prison, the said girl will be enjoying her marriage. Probably, the girls daughter may even be old enough for marriage.


The only thing prison gives you is enough time to think about your mistakes. Learn from this guy, don't throw your life away for a hole you didn't dig.

chipzidar:
So these networks do save voice conversations

Samkazi23:
His name is Simon Keyes lmao. He fit fight am after seeing this picture.

TarOrfeeek:
Regulatory agencies should ensure that non-certified technicians do not handle high tension cables e.t.c

And Navy personnel should pay their NEPA Bills naaaaaaaaaa

bonetalk:
U mean Simon and d wife

MadeINchenzen2:
This man

I pray after all these, u dont end up in hell fire

m140:
I meant she ... easy na

m140:
Na me be this ... I bought stuffs for my wife to start office work there... you come later look like stride of broom

kestolove95:
Picture of the penis b4 I donate

PierreAbutu:
In Kiss Daniel's voice.....UNTIL YOUR BOBBY TOUCH YA BELLE OOOOO

femmyapson:
In your dreams right

obembet:
When one idiot guy was asking for my nude pic...

FBIBOT:
Dem go use am cook egusi soup

richmond500:
Oh God, pls if I reincarnate, I want to be a periwinkle in european lake than coming to Nigeria.