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Nigeria Recruitment and Conditions of Service
Nigeria's large population and the decreasing size of
the
armed forces made recruitment relatively easy. More than
15
million men were fit for military service, and each year
about
1.2 million reached the military age of eighteen. Military
service was voluntary, but Section 200 of Nigeria's 1979
constitution provided for the establishment and
maintenance of
adequate facilities for carrying out any law requiring
compulsory
military service or training. Further, until such an act
passed,
the president was authorized to maintain facilities for
military
training in any secondary or postsecondary education
institution
that desired such training. The new draft constitution,
promulgated by Decree Number 12 of 1989, to become
effective on
October 1, 1992, contains identical provisions.
Since 1973 Nigeria has had a National Youth Service
Corps
(NYSC), in which graduates of polytechnic schools and
universities at home or abroad were obligated to serve one
year
in a state other than their native one. The NYSC expanded
from
about 5,000 men and 1,100 women during 1976-77 to 30,000
men and
13,000 women in 1985. The corps was primarily a technical
and
education program for national development, and it had no
paramilitary functions or relationship to the armed
forces.
Military recruitment was highly selective and subject
to a
constitutional mandate that the composition of both the
officer
corps and other ranks should reflect Nigeria's "federal
character." The minimum educational qualification was a
West
African School Certificate. Reports that more than 20,000
applicants sought 1,760 places in the army during one
recruitment
period underscored its selectivity. Nigerian law required
the
army to recruit equal quotas from among the states and to
mix
recruits in units. Northerners were overrepresented,
however,
especially in the infantry, in which soldiers from the
states of
Sokoto, Niger, Kaduna, Kano, and Borno predominated. In
1985 it
was estimated that 70 percent of senior officers came from
the
northern or middle belt region, whereas the
administrative,
technical, and logistic formations were dominated by
southerners.
The highest ranking women in 1984 were one army colonel,
one air
force wing commander, and one navy commander, all in the
Medical
Corps.
In early 1989, the Directorate of Army Recruitment,
Resettlement, and Reserve reported that almost 43,000
Nigerians
had joined the army during the previous decade: 18,981
between
March 1979 and January 1988, and 23,971 between April 1983
and
December 1988. Army enrollments were also expected to
double from
3,000 to 6,000 as a one-time measure under the
revitalization
program under which entrants from 1963 or earlier were
discharged
to make room for younger soldiers who joined in 1979 or
later. To
meet targeted force reduction levels, in 1990 the army
began
discharging soldiers who could not read or write after the
fouryear literacy campaign (1986-89), strictly enforcing
disciplinary
codes, and encouraging early retirements. The navy
accepted about
500 recruits per year. In 1989 the navy announced that it
was
suspending recruitment of women, except nurses, until
adequate
and appropriate conditions of service had been devised,
such as
accommodations, training, promotions, and authorization
for
marriages and pregnancies.
Military pay and benefits were generally adequate if
not
attractive, although their value in real terms eroded
during the
period of economic austerity in the later 1980s. A new
salary and
benefits structure for the armed forces was announced in
December
1990, to be implemented in January 1991. Benefits included
a
basic benevolent fund plan that provided immediate but
token
relief to dependents of deceased service personnel. In
1989
benefits were increased to N4,000 for noncommissioned
officers
(NCOs), N5,000 for senior NCOs, and N10,000 for
commissioned
officers; personnel contributed a premium of about N36
yearly.
The army introduced an insurance plan in 1988, a benefit
soon
emulated by the other services. An Air Force Welfare
Insurance
Scheme was introduced in April 1989 to provide life
insurance
with death benefits ranging between N10,000 to N80,000
depending
on rank. Members' contributions varied by rank, from N10
monthly
for airmen to N100 monthly for air commodores. The new
plan
supplemented the existing benevolent fund and special
coverage
for pilots and flight technicians. The NAF also announced
plans
to establish its own bank. In 1989 an impending Nigerian
Navy
Welfare Insurance Scheme was also announced.
Several problems were apparent, however. During 1986 a
census
of army personnel and dependents was conducted to
determine needs
for adequate housing, utilities, and medical care and to
identify
and eject persons illegally occupying military
accommodations. It
found uniforms in such short supply that all sorts of
irregular
attire and accoutrements were in use. Thousands of
soldiers and
their families lived in bashas, shanty-like
structures
that the army hoped to replace with suitable housing
before
October 1992. In late 1988, Babangida expressed deep
concern
about general social malaise and economic crimes, which
were
aggravated by the use of sophisticated weapons obtained
with the
connivance of military personnel. In early 1990, the army
chief
of staff noted the continued problem of service personnel
engaged
in smuggling, armed robbery, and other antisocial
activities.
The most demanding personnel problem was managing the
steady
demobilization of the armed forces from about 300,000 in
the
early 1970s to a scheduled member of perhaps 75,000 by
1993. An
Armed Forces Rehabilitation Centre was set up in 1972 to
resettle
disabled soldiers. It has continued to operate with a
broader
mission and under various names but has lacked direction.
It has
pensioned off disabled soldiers, discharged police,
reenlisted
ex-servicemen, and handled voluntary discharges. Most of
the
voluntary discharges were skilled technicians retained on
active
duty until 1980. Discharged service personnel experienced
massive
administrative problems, such as delays or failure to
receive
pensions and gratuities, whereas other ex-service
personnel
received discharges or benefits to which they were not
entitled.
Finally, in January 1989, the government announced a major
resettlement program, including guidance and counseling,
job
placement, and technical and vocational training. Taken
together
with the new welfare insurance plans, this program
promised to
improve conditions of service and release.
In 1989 the army announced it would undertake a review
of
military laws to correct deficiencies. Among measures
contemplated were plans to educate lawyers about military
laws
and to develop better procedures for trying soldiers
accused of
violations. Existing laws only stated offenses for which a
soldier could be charged but did not prescribe procedures.
The
army also called for inclusion of military law in the
teaching
curricula of university law faculties.
Data as of June 1991
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