Former
Chief Of Army Staff(COAS), Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika (retd),
has said about 30,000 soldiers do no have accommodation.
Gen. Ihejirika, who disclosed this in an
interview with Daily Sun decried the poor and inadequate accommodation
for soldiers. He said the situation has forced army authorities to keep
troops fighting Boko Haram insurgents for as long as three years in the
North East, whereas they ought to spend between nine months and one year
there.
To solve the accommodation problem,
Ihejirika suggested that 50 percent of funds approved for construction
in the North East be channeled into renovating military barracks and
construction of new ones.
He said: “More barracks need to be built.
Within the three and half years I was in office, we expanded the
strength of the army by, at least, 21,000, but we did not build
accommodation for the 21,000.
“We built new barracks leading to new
accommodations for, at least, 5,000 people; what of the other 16,000?
And since I left office, more people have been recruited, so, any fund
available for the counter insurgency, a good proportion of that money,
if possible, fifty 50 percent, should go to rehabilitation of barracks
and construction of new ones, to accommodate the, perhaps, up to 30,000,
soldiers currently not properly accommodated.
“Today, they are engaged, tomorrow, they will be disengaged and they will go back to the barracks.
“Due to inadequate accommodation,
rotation of troops is difficult. We now have troops in the battle area
for two or three years; so, that has to do with welfare of troops
generally.”
On the recent order by the chief of army
staff to officers and soldiers of the Nigerian army to learn the three
major Nigerian languages of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, Ihejirika, who said
there was nothing wrong with the directive, explained that Knowledge of
local languages enhances unity in operations and reduces mutual
suspicion between the civil populace and the military that operate in
the area.
He said several efforts by the military,
especially at multinational joint operations, have failed to yield the
desired result in the past due to serious language barrier.
The former army chief described the
extension of tenure of the Defence and service chiefs by President
Muhammadu Buhari as “bad business for sponsors and sympathisers of the
Boko Haram terrorists” operating within and outside the country.
He said by extending the tenure of the
service chiefs, those who would have taken advantage the crisis of the
change in command will no longer be able to have their way.
Gen. Ihejirika said appointment of new
service chiefs at this time, when the military is at the verge of
clearing Boko Haram terrorists in the country, would, no doubt, give the
enemies, who have been destabilised the opportunity to re-strategise
and come out even stronger than before.
“By extending the services of the service
chiefs, a situation where change in command in the midst of serious
problem would given the enemy the chance has been blocked.
The service chiefs are under direct
command of the commander-in-chief. So, for the commander-in-chief to
extend their services means he is satisfied and impressed with their
performances. I am of the opinion that the service chiefs have done
well, so far, and they should continue.”
The former COAS, who also commended
President Buhari for embarking on a tour to solicit the support of world
leaders and neighboring African leaders, said it now behoves on the
Ministry of Defence, foreign affairs and the relevant government
agencies to consolidate on the gains of the visit.
Ihejirika, while assessing the counter
insurgency operators, so far, said rather than continue to condemn the
activities of the terrorists, government should focus more on countering
their ideology and things that would convince old and new members from
joining the group.
“Terrorists ideologies needs to be
countered properly and not just by condemning them, but by doing things
that would convince the terrorists and prospective terrorists to shun
what is being preached by Boko Haram. Boko Haram, by their narratives,
give a lot of unemployed youths hope for the future and that needs to be
countered.”
Going into memory lane, the former army
chief said: “For instance, in 2011, I cried out that what we were having
was terrorism which later dovetailed into insurgency. At that time, the
message was not clear to a lot of Nigerians and even the international
communities. Our neighbors did not bother to cooperate and the
insurgents seized the opportunity to build a lot of their bases in
territories adjoining Nigeria.”
Apart from countering the ideology of the
terrorists group, Ihejirika, also advised government to strengthen the
police to enable it curb kidnaping, bank robberies and other high
profile crimes.
He said apart from their sponsors, the terrorists group gets their funding through these criminal acts.
“Greater part of Boko Haram funding comes
from bank robbery, kidnapping, and so on. When there is spate of
kidnaping, weather in Kaduna, Yola or Niger, ransoms are paid.”
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