Recently, the Army authorities announced the voluntary and
compulsory retirement of some top generals and the hell was literally let loose
as some of those who were asked to go home were using the media to fight back.
It took the out-going Director, Public Relations Department, of
the army, Major General Mobolaji Koleosho, to rise up to the occasion and call
their bluff, reminding them that some six month earlier, they had been duly
informed of their imminent retirements but they ignored it hence while they
were being forced to do so.
Defence Focus reliably gathered that the reason why generals
develop cold feet when being told to go home has to do with their welfare
majorly. Checks show that the only time the officers enjoy most is the little
time they have. That is when they become generals and as the saying goes “the
higher you go, the cooler it
becomes.’’
More often, you hear people agitating for a better welfare
package for the police apparently to discourage them from bribery and
corruption that have been synonymous with their uniform. No one makes similar
requests for the soldiers who are placed on the same salary scale and who are
possibly facing greater tasks in their quest to fulfill their constitutional
responsibilities.
For example, a Major is equivalent to an Assistant Commissioner
of Police, Lt. Colonel is at par with a Deputy Commissioner of Police, a
Colonel is equivalent to a Commissioner of Police, Brigadier General and the
Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Major General and Deputy Inspector
General of Police (DIG) while the Lt General who heads the Army and the
Inspector General of Police.
They earn the same salaries and welfare package but could one
compare a Colonel with a Commissioner of Police in term of patronages that
their offices attract? Could a Brigadier General stand at the same level with
an AIG, etc? Yet nobody cares.
And to compound the problem, once a general retires from the
military, there is nothing for him again. He loses his relevance and unless he
goes into politics, nobody considers him for a public office and the military
he served meritoriously only have little or nothing for him as retirement
benefits. This is why you see ex-generals living in abject poverty. Most of
them do not have their personal houses till the retirement knocks at the door.
Hence, why they don’t want to quit the service,
If the gold rust what do you think of the iron? If the top brass
are having such a problem, what could one think of the middle class and below
who do not mount road blocks where money is extorted from the motorists, a
sharp practice by the police which the present IGP stopped.
Until the emergence of Lt Gen Azubuike Ihejirika as the Army
Chief, most of the middle rank officers were squatters while some turned their
rickety cars into their residence after official hours. Woe on any of them who
dares to raise an alarm over their plight. Some of them live under dilapidated
buildings called barracks.
With the emergence of terrorism in Nigeria, some soldiers who
are ordered to mount road blocks have not set their eyes on their families in
the last one year. They are exposed to harsh weather daily yet they don’t know
when they would be asked to go home and see their families. Those in the
country are even happier at least they have a way of reaching homes through
communication.
Those serving abroad for one year or more are lamenting. Their
only consolation may be some hard currencies they return home with. But, what
amount of money could one get to replace the love for one’s spouse and
children? Only God knows the number of our soldiers who have died in the
so-called Peace Keeping Force right from the Liberia civil war to date. Few
days ago, some of them going to Mali were killed in Okenne by some terrorists
wearing religious mask. Who will fight for the cause of our soldiers?.
Source: Leadership
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