The Nigerian Army has explained why 234 soldiers who recently retired from the force tendered their resignations.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig Gen Onyema Nwachukwu, denied allegations that the 243 soldiers retired because of low morale and poor conditions of service.
Nwachukwu made this known in a statement titled, “Voluntary Retirement or Discharge is a Routine in the Nigerian Army”.
It reads, “The allegation that soldiers of the Nigerian Army (NA) are proceeding on voluntary retirement due to alleged corruption, poor service conditions and low morale as recently reported by some outfits in the social media is nothing but a concoction of the imagination of the unrepentant enemies of the nation and mischief makers and should be out rightly discountenanced by the public.
“The subjective and unethical report is a distraction and another failed attempt at dampening the morale and fighting will, of the loyal, dedicated and patriotic fighting force of the NA.
“Perhaps these impenitent mischief makers need to be schooled to understand that the NA is not a conscript Army and that recruitment into the NA is voluntary with extant policy on discharge and retirement of soldiers and officers respectively, like other organizations.
“”This provides its personnel the opportunity to apply for voluntary discharge, when they deem fit and meet the terms and conditions as
stipulated in the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service soldiers/ratings/airmen (Revised) 2017.
It is thus, the inalienable right of a personnel to voluntarily or on medical grounds apply for discharge, if they meet the terms.
“It is therefore not an aberration that the COAS granted approval for 91 NA/32/4792 WO Ndagana Ishiaku and 242 others to voluntarily discharge from the NA, as being unprofessionally manipulated by some media.
“Given the mannerism of the ill-fated report, it is clear, that it is targeted at deflating the high morale of troops by downplaying recent critical interventions by the COAS Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya on troops’ welfare, which include car loans, housing loans, extensive construction of new accommodation, massive renovation of old and dilapidated accommodation, building of befitting residences.
