Soldiers Fighting Boko Haram Say Deployment Grossly Inadequate, Allowances For Anti-Terror Unit Unpaid.

Soldiers on patrol in one of the flashpoints in Borno

By SaharaReporters, New York

Nigerian soldiers who are in the frontline of the war against terrorist Islamist sect Boko Haram have decried the low level of deployment and serious operational inefficiency. In addition, the soldiers say that the perennial problem of unpaid allowances has damaged the morale of troops on the battlefield.
Several soldiers deployed to the most dangerous theaters of the war on terror told SaharaReporters that only eight to ten soldiers are stationed to combat heavily armed and vicious members of the Islamist sect in critical areas near Nigeria’s border with Chad and the Sambisa forest.
In addition, the soldiers complained that they are assigned to take on Boko Haram without bombs, battle tanks or personnel carriers. Most of the troops are issued with AK 47 rifles and a few magazines. Several soldiers accused their commanders of spending funds to purchase substandard equipment, including helmets and bulletproof vests.
“Some of our soldiers killed by Boko Haram were wearing new helmets and bullet proof vests, but the bullets fired by Boko Haram scattered everything,” one soldier said. He said the sentiment among soldiers was that President Goodluck Jonathan should order an investigation into the army’s procurement of hardware, weapons, and other military equipment. He wondered whether it made sense that terrorist insurgents are equipped with more firepower and superior equipment, including night vision goggles.
The soldiers also stated that SaharaReporters’ recent reports focusing on their plight had forced the military authorities and Defense Ministry officials to start paying members of some units their monthly allowance of N30, 000. Even so, they revealed that soldiers attached to several units have not been paid for two months.
SaharaReporters learned that soldiers serving in the Special Operations Battalion (SOB) stationed in Mubi, Adamawa State, have been receiving regular allowances since our last recent reports that highlighted the unimpressive state of soldiers’ quarters, the poor quality of their meals and other supplies, their antiquated as well as inadequate supply of weaponry, and a huge backlog of unpaid allowances.
Despite the army command’s efforts to pay some units, several soldiers disclosed that many of them remained unpaid. Among the worst hit by unpaid allowances are soldiers drafted from the 3rd Armored Division in Plateau State who are currently deployed in Izge Damboa, Gworza local government area in Borno State. “For two months now, they never paid us our operational allowance,” one of the affected soldiers stated.
The affected soldiers were deployed since April 3, 2014 under “Operation Task Force Mike”.
In another fallout from our recent reports on the wretched condition of soldiers, the Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) recently ordered frontline commanders to instruct the troops under their control to desist from divulging information to the media about their woeful condition.
According to a letter from the DMI headquarters and seen by SaharaReporters, the directorate plans to send some of its officials to the various military units to perform troop audit and ascertain soldiers conditions of service on the battlefront.