Nigerian Army

Abuja – The Nigerian Army on Wednesday said it had commenced recruitment of qualified able men into the service to beef up its strength in the ongoing war against insurgency.

The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Olajide Laleye, made the disclosure at a news conference in Abuja.

He said “those recruited will be trained, after which they will form part of the force to undertake campaign in the North-East.

“In the same vein, the Nigerian Army will also commission duly qualified interested Nigerians as officers through the Direct Short Service Commission (DSSC) and Short Service Commission.

“Already, the office of the Military Secretary has sent out adverts in some national dailies for interested candidates.’’

Lalaye decried sections of the media for undertaking a smear campaign calculated to undermine the numerous achievements of the army.

He said that in spite of the efforts of the NA to tackle the insecurity problem in the country, some individuals, bodies and organisations were working toward tarnishing its image.

He added that “this group and their international collaborators are trying hard to portray the Nigerian military as corrupt with myriad of problems and challenges ranging from morale of troops, equipment and troops welfare.

“However, the army as one of the binding forces of the unity of Nigeria is far from being weak and ineffective.”

Commenting on the recent mutiny by soldiers in Borno, the director said “isolated cases, which normally occur during operations such as the one in the North East should not be taken as the norm.”

He said that the army had performed creditably well in all operations assigned to it and it recorded outstanding performances in peacekeeping and internal security operations.”

Layele said that the army was steadily reversing the ugly menace of terrorism and insurgency in parts of the country.

He added that troops’ allowances had always been paid when due, including allowances for the month of May 2014.

The spokesman insisted that if there were factual cases of corruption against the army, such reports should be made available to the authorities.

– NAN