Expert faults recruitment of civilian JTF members in army

While commending activities of civilian JTF members in assisting the Nigerian Armed Forces to combat Boko Haram, an expert, Kennedy Emetulu has said that recruiting such people in the Army should not be a reward to anybody for whatever they have done for the country.

According to him, whatever form the reward must take, it must not and should not have included a special recruitment into the Nigerian Army in the manner it has been done.

Emetulu said: “The membership of the Nigerian Army is not a reward to anybody for whatever they have done for Nigeria. The Nigerian Armed Forces are collectively the greatest symbol of our national unity and recruitment into their ranks is constitutionally and lawfully determined.

“Section 217(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) states: “The composition of the officer corps and other ranks of the armed forces of the Federation shall reflect the federal character of Nigeria”.

“In giving effect to the above, section 219(b) of the Constitution states that the National Assembly shall “establish a body which shall comprise such members as the National Assembly may determine, and which shall have power to ensure that the composition of the armed forces of the Federation shall reflect the federal character of Nigeria in the manner prescribed in section 217 of this Constitution.

“I fully understand that the state must show gratitude to the Civilian JTF members, but should recruitment into the Army be the answer? I mean, it is obvious that all those who joined did so, because they simply needed a job, not because they set out to choose the military as a career.