Corruption, Division Hinders Nigerias

War Against Boko Haram

Investigations reveal that corruption, division hinders Nigerias war against Boko Haram
and these claims might just have substance. In March, the United States Under Secretary
of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Sarah Sewall, said
categorically that corruption is hindering Nigerias efforts at ending insurgency in the
North-East.
While appearing before a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee alongside a
Pentagon top Africa official, Amanda Dory, Sewall added that the military must
overcome entrenched corruption and incompetence for it to rescue the over 200
schoolgirls abducted by the Boko Haram on April 14.
Her accusation came just a day after the Nigerian Army declared in a clear term that its
soldiers could not march force with force with the dreaded Boko Haram insurgents.
The Chief of Accounts and Budget (army), Maj.-Gen. Abdullahi Muraina, said this at
training programme for the Nigerian Army Finance Corps Warrant Officers and Senior
Non-Commissioned officers. Muraina said without adequate funding, the army would not
be able to halt the current activities of Boko Haram.
He said, Currently, budgetary allocation for the military is inadequate to meet the
contemporary security challenges and also cater for the welfare of the Nigerian Army.
Muraina noted that apart from inadequate funding,the army was enmeshed in
bureaucratic bottlenecks for funding approvals for military operations across the country,
urging the Federal Government to evolve other means of funding and supporting military
operations aside the usual budgetary allocations.
However, in addition to corruption, inadequate armament, low morale and possible
collusion with the enemy, the growing rift between officers and non-commissioned
officers (NCOs) in Battalion 101 of 7Division based in Maiduguri, has been identified as
one of the factors that has hindered the countrys counter-terrorism efforts in the Northeast.
Investigations reveal that the mistrust between officers and the NCOs is so bad that it has
served to weaken the countrys offensive against Boko Haram terrorists. The rift has seen
the parties setting each other up and helped to expose senior officers in the army currently
being investigated and face court martial, contrary to the repeated denials by the Defence
Headquaters and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, that no
officer is being tried in the military.

Whereas the soldiers have accused their commanders of colluding with the enemy, the
officers have blamed the soldiers for deliberately refusing to fight and pushing their
colleagues to their deaths.
In an interview, a senior officer in the Nigerian Army said his fellow commissioned
officers have maintained that rather than the insurgency, it is acts of cowardice,
indiscipline and desertion from duty on the part of soldiers that constitute the greatest
danger in the ongoing fight against terrorism in the country.
He disclosed that the troublesome Battalion 101 of 7Division, which had also mutinied
against their General Officer Commanding (GOC), was made up of lily-livered soldiers
whose frame of mind was not conditioned to engage terrorists in a battle.
He revealed that the pervasive rot had become so frightening that the military authorities
are considering a comprehensive overhaul of both their recruitment system and more
importantly, re-orientation of personnel on the professional calling of soldiers in the
armed forces.
In the midst of these counter accusations, the US, which offered logistics support to
rescue the abducted girls seem unimpressed. Sewall said that despite Nigerias $5.8bn
security budget for 2014, corruption prevents supplies as basic as bullets and transport
vehicles from reaching the front lines of the struggle against Boko Haram.
According to the New York Times, Sewall also told the committee that morale was low
and that desertions were common among soldiers in the 7th Army Division fighting the
insurgents. She clarified the level of involvement of US personnel in the rescue of the
abducted girls, saying it would not be combative.
She told select journalists in Abuja that it was up to Nigeria to accept or reject the
prisoners exchange offer made by Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Meanwhile, members of the Committee had disclosed that Boko Haram insurgents were
trained by al-Qaeda. However, the US had earlier said that Boko Haram was not a branch
of the global terrorist organisation, al Qaeda and it should be treated as its own terrorist
group.
The Chairman of the Committee, Ed Royce, said being trained by the global terrorist sect
meant greater terror for Nigerians, and greater challenges for the security forces.
According to another top military source, the military authorities have been trying to deal
with rising cases of sabotage within their ranks and soldiers refusing to fight or desertion
in the heat of battle but were taken aback by the recent acts of mutiny in Maiduguri.
Worried by the ugly development, the military has traced the remote and immediate
causes of this alarming trend to three major factors, including the overbearing influence

of the elite during the recruitment process such that candidates without a passion for the
profession are being recruited into the armed forces.
It was revealed that most political figures, traditional rulers and influential personalities
under the erroneous notion that the military is a money-making establishment rather than
war-fighting profession put enormous pressure on the services to recruit their candidates
who are not suitable for the job.
What we have today is frightening. This is not an issue of morale or motivation, but
outright cases of cowardice with soldiers refusing to fight. They even beat up their
officers and commanders and before you know it, they will start calling their political
godfathers who will in turn start making demoralising comments and talking about
morale.
It has been difficult getting them to imbibe the discipline required of soldiers. For
example, the attitude exhibited by this battalion has been unheard of in the annals of the
Nigerian Army whereby you will send a soldier on assignment, and he dictates to you
where, when and how he will go, as well as the type of weapon he must be given before
going.
Those who complain of weapons and other issues are all excuses born out of fear and
cowardice, not issues of motivation and morale, the source said.
However, the soldiers have attributed the woeful performance of the military in the
North-east to the army officers, whom they accused of selling information, equipment
and military uniforms in exchange of Boko Haram members.
Soldiers lamented the maltreatment of their colleagues, pointing to the poor allowances
they are paid and poor feeding, saying: They treat us like slaves.