The CDS, who disclosed this during an exclusive interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, said that Nigerian soldiers and military officers are doing well and therefore should be paid salaries that are worth the jobs to encourage them to do more.
Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has said that Nigerian soldiers and military officers earn less than N50,000 as monthly salaries while Generals and soldiers on operations get N1,200 for feeding daily.
The CDS, who disclosed this during an exclusive interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, said that Nigerian soldiers and military officers are doing well and therefore should be paid salaries that are worth the jobs to encourage them to do more.
SaharaReporters have done several reports on soldiers lamenting poor feeding, poor salaries, poor medical treatments and poor welfare packages in general despite abandoning their families, putting their lives on the line with massive promises from the Nigerian government.
On December 11, SaharaReporters reported how troops attached to 145 Taskforce Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Damasak, Borno State for Operation Hadi Kai lamented the alleged misuse of power against their rights by their Commanding Officer.
The soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity over fear of victimization also lamented acute hunger.
The soldiers who lamented that they were not being properly fed, called for the immediate intervention of President Bola Tinubu and military chiefs to address the issue of poor treatment of soldiers on the front lines, sacrificing their lives daily.
Apart from not being given good food, the soldiers lamented that many of their colleagues had been killed by terrorists because the military lacked adequate firepower and equipment to combat the insurgents.
In what seems to be the affirmation of the claims made by the soldiers, the Chief of Defence Staff said that, “The issue of ration cash allowance where we feed, any time we are on operations, I, as a General I’m being fed on N1,200 per day with my soldiers, from the first General to the last soldier, the same amount. That is what we manage with.
“My soldiers collect less than N50,000 for a salary a month. We all know the situation on ground. My appeal is for them to have salaries that are worth the work they are doing. We deserve to have that so that it will encourage them to do more.
“We have a lot of them that have been injured, families separated for a very long time. These are the morale aspect of it that we check to actually ginger the troops to want to do more.”
The CDS said that Nigerian soldiers are rendering great services to the nation but they don’t get first-class treatment from Nigerians like seen in other countries.
Speaking further, he said, “My greatest pain is when I have to face the family of my either officer or soldier to tell them they lost their breadwinner. It is painful. You go back with nightmares when you close your eyes.
“Nigerians should understand that these people have their families all over. Now is a holiday period and a lot of people are on holiday and have travelled abroad but we don’t have that luxury. Most of the time you don’t get to see your family all over this period. These are sacrifices they make and we should try to commend them.
“On the medical aspect, on their treatments, we have to get prosthetics for those of them that went through IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). If you see the devastating effects of IEDs on troops, legs amputated, arms amputated, and so many injuries, the armed forces deserve some level of commendation.”
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