Worthy example
Special fund for injured patriots on the battlefield and the fallen is welcome President Bola Tinubu’s decision to establish a support fund for soldiers wounded on the battle front and
Special fund for injured patriots on the battlefield and the fallen is welcome
President Bola Tinubu’s decision to establish a support fund for soldiers wounded on the battle front and families of fallen heroes is highly thoughtful. He took the lead by instructing the Accountant-General of the Federation to calculate his total emoluments since he assumed office in May 2023 and ensure that same is deposited in the account.
This is a patriotic decision as many soldiers have been complaining that their monthly salaries and allowances are inadequate for their expenses. Their dependants, too, have cried out that while their breadwinners are on the battle field fighting to defend the country, spouses and children suffer as they are unable to pay children’s school fees and hospital bills.
We join the President in calling on other public officers, politicians, corporate bodies and captains of industry to emulate this worthy cause.
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The plight of families of deceased soldiers and officers is even more disheartening. The death benefits are delayed unduly, and pensions are not promptly processed. This is unacceptable.
It is good that the President equally directed that all the bottlenecks be immediately removed. When this is done, the gallant fighters’ morale would be boosted.
While the main theatre of war that has seen body bags transported to loved ones of our soldiers is the Borno part of the North East since 2009, it soon spread to other parts of the zone, especially to Adamawa and Taraba, with the insurgents sometimes gaining so much upper hand that strange flags were hoisted and emirs deposed.
Schools were sacked and sophisticated weapons that even members of our armed forces lacked found their way into the hands of the insurgents. Things improved at some point, but the war is still fierce.
Then came the bandits who seized the North West by the throat. All the security forces have lost officers and men, including generals.
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The war soon spread to the North Central states of Niger, Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa. The haemorrhage in men and materials has been so huge that many Nigerians blame the government and the armed forces for failure to protect lives and property.
It has taken various forms with domestic and foreign insurgents drafted into the war and kidnappers also troubling law-abiding citizens in almost all Northern states.
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In the South, too, a time there was when men of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East targeted for elimination policemen and soldiers as well as civilians who failed to take instructions from them. The recent intervention or interference by the United States is a new dimension as it threatens to fire arrows at the heart of national sovereignty.
It is obvious that this is a war that must be won. We can no longer delay for much longer. President Tinubu has promised to purchase and deploy as much assets as may be needed to clear off the enemies all over the country. One of the ways to do this is to make a career in the military attractive to young men and women, and to ensure that thereafter they are well catered for.
This intervention fund is welcome, but those in charge of ensuring prompt payment of the soldiers’ benefits should quickly review them. Their daily allowance when on the battle field should be promptly released to enable them visit their loved ones when statutorily due.
Indeed, a new salary scale should be immediately undertaken and announced for the officers and men. We can no longer afford to have this intractable assymetric war divert resources from development to warfare for too long.
