Thoughts on Nigerian Army

 

For patriots and those who really care about the wellbeing of the 200 million Nigerian people; the setbacks that the Nigerian Army have lately suffered in their fight against Boko Haram insurgency, must indeed be a thing of serious concern. There are worries in these quarters because the defeat of the Nigerian Army by the Boko Haram has the potential to undermine the corporate existence of Nigeria and implode the hope of most black people; all over the world, that Nigeria will one day become their own Jerusalem.

The questions in the mouths of most patriots who are following the war in the northeast are: why is the Nigerian Army not winning the war against Boko Haram as quickly as expected? Is this not the same Nigerian Army that went to Liberia; Sierra Leone and lately Gambia and swiftly restored peace in those countries? What about all the medals for gallantry that the Nigerian Army had won in several United Nations Peace Keeping Operations around the world? The answers to all these nagging questions should not be hanging in the air to a discerning observer and any diligent student of the history of the Nigerian Army. A brief survey of the history of the Nigerian Army will throw up some light and suffice for our purpose here.

Foremost, we must understand that the Nigerian Army is not a product of the aspirations of the people of Nigeria or borne out of their yearnings. Rather, it was created by the colonial masters to protect and defend colonial and neo-colonial interests. And these interests; among others, include protection of colonial master’s vice-grip on power; safeguarding sources of raw materials feeding the industries in Europe and America and to ensure uninterrupted sales of finished goods in the colonial territories.

If an army had these historical antecedents; what one would have expected is a shift in paradigm when Nigeria got her flag independence on 1st October, 1960. But alas; this was not the case, as the respective regional leaders not only consolidated the colonial legacies but further went ahead to compound them, by introducing and invigorating clannishness in the Nigerian Army. These leaders were acutely conscious and realized from the very beginning that “power flows from the barrel of the gun” and that the size of your army will ultimately determine the nature and longevity of your stay in power. To that extent; these leaders fashioned out a conscious policy of recruiting and enlisting into the Nigerian Army officers’ corps their blood relations, children of politicians and their supporters as well as offspring of royalties.

The consequence of this is that Nigeria became saddled with an army populated by children of elites who do not see themselves as beholden to the Nigerian people but rather an institution totally alienated from them. The army became an instrument for propping up in power the political godfathers when it was expected to be the bastion for the defence of the nation against external aggressors.

Unfortunately; the takeover of power by the army through military coup in 1966 and the civil war that subsequently followed, rather than cure these maladies further exacerbated them as the different military heads of states embarked on a conscious policy of under developing the very military institution that brought them to power.

The policy not to modernize the Nigerian Army by the respective military heads of states was a deliberate action adopted to undermine the capacity of their colleagues to overthrow their governments. Despite the huge foreign exchange inflows from the sales of crude oil, the military heads of states of yore will neither acquire modern and sophisticated weapons to upgrade the army’s armoury nor would they establish local industries to produce essential ammunitions here in Nigeria. Military training also became a rarity and when available it was a reward and privilege for the loyal officers who helped the commander-in-chief to grab power and working assiduously to perpetuate him in office. The Air force; which has become the back bone and the most decisive force in most modern armies in the advanced countries of the world, was the most neglected and hardest hit.

To hold ordinary meetings, play games; recreate in the officer’s mess and engage in ordinary civic activities in the army were not only frowned at but became a rarity as they were seen as hatchery beds for coup d’états by all the military heads of states. The rapport; espirit de corps; camaraderie and joy that should ordinarily exist in a standing army were abjured as military intelligence and the state security service were always on prowl to sniff out who was meeting and why they were meeting. Given this situation the Nigerian Army not only became a defanged Alsatian dog but also an octopus without a vertebrate.

Cornered into a very suffocating environment; the rank and file had to device ways and means to keep busy. Nigerians will recall one-time Police Public Relations Officer, Alozie Ogbugbuaja, describe the Nigerian Army as an institution populated by effete and hedonist men and women whose past-time was to engage in pepper soup and beer drinking competitions in local bars at the expense of their core mandates.

Given these circumstances; the Nigerian Army not only became alienated from their professional callings but also from the very Nigerian people they ought to protect.

Furthermore, some intervening events were a disservice to the Nigerian Army as they helped to camouflage the rot in that institution. For example, when the Nigerian Army went to Liberia, Sierra Leone and lately Gambia, to restore peace in those beleaguered countries and swiftly carried out their mandates, most Nigerians thought they had a solid and competent army. Tragically, it has taken the war against Boko Haram to burst the bubble and expose the Nigerian people to the sad reality and bitter truth that restoring peace in tiny countries and winning medals under other peoples command does not necessarily guarantee and translate into a strong force and ought not to be used to measure the strength of a nation’s army.

But were there no indicators that the Nigerian Army was not in a fighting shape before the war with the Boko Haram? There were. But not many Nigerians paid attention to these weaknesses. In fact, because of the opaque manner in which many Nigerian institutions operate, only very few perceptive observers of the activities of the Nigerian Army could have seen the fault lines. One of such indicators was the performance of the Nigerian Army in the war against the Niger Delta Militants. This war; not only brought into very bold relief the decadence and rot that had been gnawing at the very essence of the Nigerian Army, but also highlighted how corruption; cronyism and debauchery, had taken over the soul of that very strategic institution. Before our very eyes, the Almighty Nigerian Army found itself unable to suppress rag tag militia groups hurriedly cobbled together by a university dropout. Rather than do the needful, the Nigerian Army commanders was putting on the Nigerian people’s plate a plethora of excuses and mountain of lies as to why it was difficult; if not totally impossible, to stop kidnapping; pipeline vandalisation; oil bunkering and to dislodge the Niger Delta militants. Just as the army is now saying with the northeast; the terrain; lack of equipment; inadequate manpower and poor funding, were hampering the army’s effectiveness.

So, what is the way forward or how can the Nigerian Army get out of this quagmire? Put differently, how can the Nigerian Army be rescued from itself? Or is the Nigerian people and their army doomed forever? The Nigerian Army is certainly not beyond redemption and the future of the Nigerian nation can be secured and guaranteed if we would be honest with ourselves and necessary sacrifices made towards its total overhaul.