Reps Urges Recruitment Of 100,000 Soldiers To Tackle Insurgency

The House of Representatives has called on the authorities to recruit additional 100,000 soldiers as part of ongoing effort to tackle insecurity in the country.

The decision followed the adoption of the report of the Mr Abdulrazak Namdas led committee on Army which proved into the recent attack by Boko Haram Insurgents at Auno Village in Borno State.

Namdas while presenting the report noted: “The Federal Government should, as a matter of national emergency, empower the Nigerian Army to recruit additional one hundred thousand (100,000) soldiers to make up for the shortfall in manpower–the same way it did during the civil war.

“We believe this can be achieved, given the huge number of unemployed youths that are available and ready to enlist into the Army. The training ground for a such number of recruits should be increased and fully equipped with necessary training facilities, in addition to what we have at Zaria Depot, which is currently the only place where recruits in Nigeria are trained.”

Among other recommendations adopted by the House at the plenary presided by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila were that the Nigerian Army should recall retired officers and men and keep them on reserve for use as and when needed, in line with the Armed Forces Act (Part VII Section 25), provided they are physically fit and not above 50 years of age;

“That in as much as the Nigerian Army has tried to justify the rationale behind the creation of Super Camps, the committee believes that a lack of adequate manpower is partly responsible for their establishment. This is because the Army does not have enough personnel to hold ground for a long time after defeating Boko Haram in some villages hence it resorts to collapsing the thinly held and sparsely resourced troops’ locations to form Super Camps. With the massive recruitment of new soldiers, there would be no need for Super Camps;

“That the Federal Government should respond to the Boko Haram crisis and other related security challenges more vigorously than the way it has responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of Nigerians killed by insurgents and bandits is far higher than the number of people killed by COVID–19. Therefore, more resources, equipment and training should be given to the Armed Forces to enable them to defeat Boko Haram once and for all;

“That the Army has been doing its best to boost the morale of its officers and men within the available resources, but there is room for improvement;

“That there is a lack of police presence in Auno village in spite of allegation by the Army that insurgents were being harboured in the area. In view of this, police should be deployed to Auno to help maintain the internal security of the village;

“That the Joint training and exercises by members of the Armed Forces should be encouraged to avoid misunderstanding among the personnel if we are to win the war on terror.”