Our Soldiers Must Have Decent Accommodations, Else…

Our Soldiers Must Have Decent Accommodations, Else…

By Abdulsalam Mahmud

One of the factors hindering the fight against Nigeria’s insecurity, according to security experts, is the absence of sophisticated firearms and ammunition for troops often deployed to engage terrorists and other criminal elements, in the country.

It is a common knowledge that troops of the Nigerian military are not sufficiently equipped with lethal weapons to rout armed robbers, marauding bandits, violent secessionist groups like the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), terror kidnappers, together with notorious Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, fighters.

Recalled that soldiers of an unidentified battalion in Operation Hadin Kai, in March 2021, protested their posting to a location in the Theatre of Operation. The aggrieved soldiers at the time, besieged the headquarters of the Theatre Command in Borno State, and shot sporadically into the air, protesting their redeployment.

They cited non-payment of allowances and poor equipment as reasons for their rebellion. Some of the soldiers, in a chat with a journalist, recalled how a whole battalion of troops that went for reinforcement at Marte in February that year, perished under the superior firepower of the Boko Haram-ISWAP forces.

The protest came on the heels of a statement (then) made by former National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), that billions of naira meant for purchasing arms and ammunition could not be accounted for, prior to March 2021. No less than $1 billion was released for the procurement, according to Monguno.

In raising the misappropriation allegation, the ex-NSA was quoted as saying: “The president has done his best by ensuring that he released exorbitant funds for the procurement of weapons which are yet to be procured; they are not there. Now the president has employed new hands that might come with new ideas.

“I am not saying that those that have retired have stolen the funds, no. But the funds might have been used in other ways unknown to anybody at present. Mr. President is going to investigate those funds. As we are talking with you at present, the state governors, the Governors Forum have started raising questions in that direction. So, I assure you that the president will not take this lightly”.

While the paucity of modern security and combat equipment (for fighting troops) is still rearing its ugly head over two years after the claim by Munguno, it is not the only thing that affects the morale of the officers and men of the Nigerian Armed Forces, particularly those dispatched to battle insurgents and other criminal elements. There is also the issue of inadequate accommodation for personnel of the military, which appears to be worrying Gen. Christopher Gwabin Musa, the incumbent Chief of Defence Staff, CDS.

Sometime in 2016, a media report claimed that Defence Headquarters (DHQ) was planning to embark on constructing housing quarters for 100 soldiers and their families in Abuja, due to a severe accommodation crisis facing military personnel in the country, fueled by a surge in the recruitment of more Armed Forces staff.

Part of the report reads: “It was gathered that with the war on Boko Haram in the North-East gaining momentum, the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta, which brought about the new 6th Division for the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt and the deadly activities of herdsmen, banditry, cattle rustling and kidnapping, giving fillip to the establishment of the 8th Division of the Army in Sokoto, there is serious accommodation crisis rocking the military.

“…Already the accommodation situation is so bad that in the Army, senior officers from the ranks of Lt. Colonels and Colonels are squatting, while others are being paired to share accommodation as a way to cover up the shame”.

But it is heartwarming that Gen. Musa is determined to permanently address the accommodation crisis, as quickly as possible. The Defence Chief recently sought the assistance of the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, for allocation to build more barracks and bases for the military.

He also requested budgetary allocation to enable the military to complete the Armed Forces Complex at its permanent site. A statement by the Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Tukur Guasu, revealed that the CDS made the appeal during a visit to the Budget and National Planning Minister’s office in Abuja.

The statement partly reads, “The CDS who was accompanied by senior officers from the Defence Headquarters said he was at the Ministry to appeal for the minister’s support in terms of budgetary allocation to the Armed Forces of Nigeria to aid unhindered discharge of its constitutional mandates.

“General Musa further requested for budgetary appropriation to enable for the completion of the Armed Forces Complex permanent site. He also calls on the minister to assist the AFN to sort out accommodation deficit in the Barracks and Bases by ensuring budget allocation for that purpose.”

Now that Sen. Bagudu has physically heard the ‘lamentation’ of Gen. Musa, the onus lies on him to use his good office to improve the budgetary allocation for the military, in a way to allow it to embark on building new state-of-the-art barracks and Troops’ bases for its officers and troops.

As Kebbi’s Governor, Bagudu was credited to have transformed the infrastructural landscape of the North West State. He should, at the FEC meetings of the coming days, lobby his colleagues to fast-track contracts’ award for new barrack facilities and development of military bases, together with the rehabilitation of existing ones that are obsolete.

The military leadership, under Gen. Musa, however must look inward to also see how it can tackle the accommodation crisis by themselves, firstly. Without banking on the intervention of the federal government.

There is the Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) Agreement. It should explore the partnership mechanism, through identifying and partnering with willing private sector investors to flag off housing projects, across the country for military personnel. Another thing expected from Gen. Musa is seeking the collaboration of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN.

The FMBN is one government agency that can empower the CDS’ vision of providing affordable and mass accommodation for military personnel. All that is needed is for the Nigerian military and management of the Mortgage Bank to ink a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, on housing projects for the former’s staff.

Philanthropists like Alh. Aliko Dangote and Abdulsamad Isiyaku Rabiu, among several others, whose past and recent interventions in Nigeria’s education and health sectors, in particular, remain enduring, should also extend their benevolence gestures to the Nigerian Armed Forces. But not necessarily in terms of establishing new barracks or estates for military personnel.

Children of fallen troops can be awarded academic scholarships, while their mothers are financially empowered to engage in small-scale businesses for sustenance. Retired military personnel battling hard times now will also fancy taking a sip from the ‘breasts’ of human kindness endowed Dangote, Abdulsamad, and other Nigerian cheerful givers.

The priority attention Gen. Musa accords to the issue of providing an enabling environment for troops and officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces is why he is assiduously working to close the yawning gap of insufficient barracks and military bases.

No one will expect our military officers and men to give their all – while squaring up with terrorists in the war theatre – when back home, their families and loved ones lack decent accommodations, if not already rendered homeless.

*Mahmud is the Deputy Editor of PRNigeria, and wrote in via: [email protected].*