By Nigerian soldier, I am referring to the officers that make up the armed forces of Nigeria and not the enlisted men. The difference between the two is that the enlisted men are specialists in the ‘application of violence’, while officers are specialists in the ‘management of violence’ and not the act of violence itself. The officer corps is viewed as a profession, whereas the enlisted men are deemed to be tradesmen, because there is a difference between firing a rifle which anyone could do, and commanding the operations of a rifle company. In taking a look at the Nigerian soldier certain explanations are necessary. We must understand what the ideal Nigerian soldier should be, and then try to unravel what Shehu Shagari termed as ‘katon banza’, useless warlords. What Nigerian soldiers should not be.

I have defined the The Nigerian State as " a confluence of nationalities made up of unreasonable people associating involuntarily in the pursuit of uncommon interests"  Nigeria is a weak State with a low level of socio political cohesion, held together by its soldiers, through coercion. Nigeria pretends to possess a self created rule by consent, described by Wada Nas as ‘compulsory unity’. The Nigerian internal political structures are virtually non existent. It is this latent instability that creates the attraction for intervention by selfish elites, soldiers and more powerful international States. Understanding the level of vulnerability the Nigerian State is exposed to, helps in analyzing the part played by its soldiers. The State is vulnerable because of its political economy. The Nigerian economy is in the doldrums due to a high debt overhang., Nigeria is caught between meeting debt payments and trying to become credit worthy so as to be able to borrow more. This comes at the expense of the citizens. In other words, the Nigerian state is trying to borrow herself out of economic regression. The citizens obviously, are not protected from this economic downturn. This creates stress leading to vulnerability., which poses threats, and when the State is threatened the soldier is summoned.

Unfortunately, the Nigerian soldier’s meddling into the affairs of State and crass irresponsibility by the political class, has created a political milieu which attracts chaos and societal stagnation. It is within this purview, that the Nigerian soldier should be looked at. The soldier’s attempt to provide military security to the State has led to his using the guise of internal security functions of the State to ‘fraudulently’ usurp powers and responsibilities that he is ill equipped to perform. The end result is, a situational security problem created through the 30 years of social, economic, political and demographic manipulations by the Nigerian soldier.

The military officer should be a professional with the requisite skills, social responsibility to serve and togetherness or espirit de corps, that would enable him direct, operate, and control an organization whose sole purpose is the application of violence. The Nigerian officer has deviated from this precept and ideal. He has abandoned the social contract and has promiscuously utilized his knowledge for his own selfish advantage even at the risk of the survival of the State. This fact has been acknowledged by General Babangida who described all military governments as a fraud. This is possible because the military profession is the only one monopolized by the State. The Nigerian soldier would joyously carry out an order to exterminate citizens of Nigeria. Forgetting that one day, history would call everyone to trial. It should be noted that the decisions of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal were based on the doctrine that, the officers in the dock should have followed their consciences and not Hitler’s orders. Therefore, when soldiers act for reasons of their personal economic benefits and take over the State organs, the fabric of the State is torn. The soldier becomes the political agent of the State taking over its bureaucratic and security functions. Loyalty, subordination and obedience to the State is lost and military professionalism is sacrificed. The conflict of military obedience and basic morality then plays out to the disadvantage of the society.

The Nigerian State is now effectively garrisoned and the secondary ideology is military federalism, with the military surreptitiously dominating the political environment. [diarchy] The military thinkers believe they could create a high military political power with a high level of military professionalism. This is wishful thinking, due to the continuing security threat posed by political imbalance and ethnic unrest within the polity. The Nigerian President has more political power over the Nigerian armed forces than the American President over United States’ forces. The Nigerian Senate president has recently signed a carte blanche authority for the President to deploy the State’s coercive powers as he sees fit, forgetting that even God does not give bad animal horns. This has resulted in the executive and the military wing of the government effectively acquiring power at the expense of the legislature and civilian politicians. Even though, the Leader of the House of Representatives is fighting a rear guard action, all democratic institutions of the Nigerian State are, as at now, effectively ceremonial. The Nigerian State has become a garrison State.

The Nigerian State is now forced to enter into military alliances with other countries, viewing Nigerians as the greatest threat to her own survival. Why does a powerful State like America want to enter into a military pact with a weak and unstable Nigeria? What thinking guides the recent intercourse with Turkey? Is it as a bulwark against the Shari’ah and the Muslim north? Why is the Nigerian State creating an 81 Division for the army with headquarters at Benin to cover the Niger Delta? The Nigerian civil / military authority have unwittingly CONFEDERATED the armed forces without knowing it! Something tells me someone is preparing for a war, and it is not against the Niger Delta States. The excuse being propagated by the United States, of how, Nigeria’s instability threaten her neighbors thereby creating a potential regional problem, is not hogwash, but trying to correct this by participating in Nigeria’s domestic disputes would eventually backfire.

In the Nigerian military world, levels of competence that should have been distinguished by a hierarchy of ranks is abolished or negatively influenced. An officer starts receiving rank because he has been assigned to an office. Promotion that should have been based on professional competence, experience, education and ability is often times jettisoned. In comes loyalty to the small clique of officers running the country, quota system, tribal and religious discrimination. Entry into the armed forces is influenced by birth, wealth and political influence, so education, competence and loyalty to the State suffers, because the institution embodying the authority of the State is absent or hijacked. The soldiers begin to see themselves as victims of societal manipulations, claiming that, it is the society which lays the groundwork for coup de tats, and even in some circumstances out rightly calling for a military take over of government.

It has been so bad for the Nigerian soldier that the Chief of Army Staff is appealing to all and sundry to restrict their negative comments about the military. Recently, there has been a total breakdown of discipline amongst the Nigerian peace keeping force in the Sierra Leone. The Nigerian government through the Minister of State for Defense trying to defend the indefensible shortchanging of Nigerian servicemen claimed: That out of the $30.00 paid to soldiers daily by the United Nations, the country sits on $10.00 for use in repairing barracks! As if that was not enough, the Indian Force Commander has accused the Nigerian Command of diamond smuggling, and the accusation is now being investigated by the United Nations. Don’t hold your breathe. An incident happened to me in my secondary school. The school prefect had submitted the name of noise makers to the headmaster for punishment. To cut a long story short, my name was included, but unfortunately, I wasn’t even in school on that day. When I accosted the prefect with all the righteous indignation I could muster, he turned round and explained to me, that he included my name because if I had been in school on that day, I would have made noise anyway…. I rest my case. A Nigerian society lacking in intrinsic core values except corruption, [‘to commandeer no be thief’] the survival value of the State would forever be threatened.

The military has abdicated their primary responsibility in mapping the operational policy, size, recruitment, supply of military power and the amount of the State’s resources available to enable it meet the organization, composition, type of armaments, location of bases and utilization of the military strength of the State. They, instead have commandeered the political institutional concerns of how decisions are made, and actually make those decisions, by becoming the dominant section of the polity. This has caused some self inflicted injury on the Nigerian soldier. An attempt to regulate the military mind into harboring political and economic thought is a recipe for disaster for the Nigerian State, because a genuine instrument for the transfer of political power is lacking. [Professor Omo Omoruyi found this out, much to his chagrin.] Little wonder, General Vatsa tied to the stake made this observation: That he did not harbor any ambition that is at variance with what obtains within the military. The descent into and overtaking of civil military relations has left the Nigerian soldier grappling with politics which is beyond his competence., thereby undermining his professionalism, and has caused his military judgment to become corroded by political expediency.

The ideal Nigerian soldier should be responsible to his client, the Nigerian State, as an expert adviser, concerned only with one section of the States problem i.e. her military security. His duties are: to explain his needs to the State, how to meet these needs, and implement the decision of his client. The Nigerian soldier has moved beyond this calling to impose his wishes on things beyond his experience and field of competence. The soldier, through his attributes of dislike for democracy, bellicosity and authoritarianism, thrive in an environment where there is conflict. They prefer a society which is organized on the basis of chain of command, where orders flow from the top to the bottom. When these characteristics are married to the complexities of the Nigerian mosaic, the effects of our social, ethnic, economic, political and religious affinities then compound the end product to create a warrior class the katon banza…… They and their accursed wealth are the source of conflicts the Nigerian State is experiencing.

My fellow country men….

Can any society endure continuous strife and adjustments forever?….

Orok Edem