Maj. General Lucky Irabor

Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor, the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, has attributed his troop’s recent successes in the anti-Boko Haram war in the North-East to improved welfare by the Nigerian Army Headquarters.

Irabor disclosed this in an interview with NAN in Maiduguri on Sunday.

“When you see a troop that is fighting and making the kind of progress we have made from January to date, it means that the troop is motivated.

“If the troop is not motivated it will not give you that type of result,’’ he said.
Irabor was reacting to speculations about delayed payment of allowances to some soldiers working in the theatre.

“In January when my predecessor Maj.-Gen. Hassan Umaru, took over the command, his maiden briefing was on the delay in payment of allowances to soldiers.

Nigerian troops in Damasak

“Some soldiers were owed allowances and the reason for that was the introduction of the Treasury Single Account by the Federal Government,’’ he said.

Irabor said that “those issues were comprehensively addressed and all our troops were paid their allowances.

“Let me say that the problem was caused by some factors and not because the money was not available.’’

He pointed out that the introduction of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) also contributed to the delay in payment of soldiers allowances.

“For reasons of the nature of environment and where our troops were deployed how they have been engaged in operation, it is not easy to have them provide the necessary bank details in the correct format on time.

“The introduction of BVN was also a factor, it was not possible to have all our troops to come out to places that they could register and so we were not able to send money directly to their account,’’ he said.

Irabor expressed joy that the troops had been motivated after receiving all their entitlements.

According to him, all the troops are happy now after getting all their allowances.

“I can assure you that the motivation has translated in the victory in the operation we are carrying out here.’’

Irabor said that the leadership at the theatre will continue to strive toward improving the welfare of soldiers with a view to sustaining the current achievements.
“Every effort is being made to increase welfare issue that will boost the morale in terms of logistics, allowances and kitting.

“We are making tremendous efforts from the support we are getting from President Muhammadu Buhari and the Service Chiefs.