This was said in a statement released on Saturday in Abuja by Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, director of Army Public Relations.
Nwachukwu was responding to a false claim made by some online media that the Army’s low morale, corruption, and bad service conditions were to blame for some employees’ voluntary departure.
The spokesman claimed that the nation’s enemies had once more failed in their attempts to sap the fighting spirit and loyalty of the Nigerian army’s devoted, obedient, and patriotic fighting force.
According to Nwachukwu, the Nigerian army is not a “conscript army,” but rather a voluntary organisation with a defined policy for the retirement and discharge of troops and officers.
According to him, Army members have the option to seek for voluntary dismissal if they think it appropriate and satisfy the requirements.
To avoid embarrassing themselves in front of the public, the Army spokesman encouraged the troublemakers to keep up with the 2017 revisions to the Army’s Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service for Soldiers, Ratings, and Airmen.
Nwachukwu claimed that the COAS has taken important steps to improve the welfare of the troops in order to boost morale there.
The interventions, he continued, included the granting of housing and automobile loans, the building and remodelling of lodgings, as well as homes and automobiles for Regimental Sergeant Majors.
Other initiatives to support and boost troop morale in the theatres of operation, he said, include giving scholarships to wards and children of dead heroes.
“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 Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt;-Gen. Faruk Yahaya, granted approval for 91 NA/32/4792 WO Ndagana Ishiaku and 242 others to voluntarily discharge from the Nigerian Army, as being unprofessionally manipulated by some media.”
“These interventions evidently account for troops’ game changing onslaught in the North East.
“It must also be mentioned, that the quantum of equipment that have been injected into the theatres and prompt payment of operational allowances, have all turned the tide against the insurgents.
“Also worthy of note is the welfare flight for troops, which has significantly reduced the burden of troops travelling in and out of the theatres.
“In addition to huge commitment on the medical needs of wounded-in-action soldiers and the barracks communities.
“Equally important, is the fact that troops are now being regularly and consciously rotated from the frontline, hence, issues of overstay and battle fatigue are gradually being overcome,” he said.
