The Niger military deaths

THE Defence Headquarters announced to the public, the tragic death of  36 soldiers in two incidents this August. Some of the soldiers died in an ambush while conducting an offensive operation in the Zungeru area of Niger State. The pilots and crew members of the MI 171 helicopter that was on a mission to evacuate the deceased and wounded troops crashed. The aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State on August 14. The helicopter was shot down by armed gangs following clashes earlier in the week, according to the defence spokesman, Major-General Edward Buba. Before these incidents, similar attacks on the military while on operationhad occurred in several parts of the country. For instance, on February 22, 2021, seven Nigeria Airforce (NAF) personnel on their way from Abuja to Minna, Niger State, died when their plane crashed after takeoff from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. In 2017, NAF confirmed that one of its helicopters, the Agusta 109 Light Utility, while undertaking a liaison mission in the North-East, suffered a technical mishap and crashed into a pool of water in Borno State. No life was lost. Also in 2015, a NAF helicopter crashed into Ribadu Cantonment (Old NDA) in Kaduna State on a Saturday, killing all seven passengers.

We commiserate with the military and the families of the fallen soldiers who must bear the direct consequences of their departure. We call on the military authorities and Nigerians to identify with those bereaved and help soothe their pain.  We also call on the military to ensure that those left behind by the fallen soldiers are helped to recover from the loss by ensuring that entitlements are paid to the right persons and in good time. The military should conduct a thorough investigation of these incidents to learn lessons and prevent or at least reduce the possibility of such occurrences in future. The Army Chief, Lt-General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, has asked the troops not to be demoralised. But morale can be given a boost if soldiers perceive the government and the military authorities as appreciative of their sacrifices, and concrete efforts are made to avert a recurrence of these tragedies.

We are constrained to let the government know that soldiers dying in large numbers under terrorists and bandits’ ambush does not speak well of the government’s readiness to succeed in the war against terrorists and bandits. Swathes of settlements in many states in the North have been allowed to stay under the control of bandits who extort money from the residents of those settlements and extract taxes. Some governors seemed very helpless in the face of such challenges. We know that the war could benefit from a more robust and systematic application of technology, especially for surveillance. With the necessary technology put into use, the terrorists would not escape and even if there was an ambush, the response would be robust.

We recognise that there is an increasing demand for the services of the Nigerian armed forces in international peace-keeping in many flashpoints in Africa.  The military has also been massively deployed to internal security assignments in recent times in a manner that is unprecedented in the life of the country during peace time. These demands have stretched the Nigerian military to a great extent. The result is that practically every army unit is engaged and there is no redundancy or reserve to cater for the rest and recuperation of troops. The situation has also stretched the limited resources of the armed forces. Yet there is no sign that the internal security challenges will reduce very soon.  This is because of the increasing inflow of small arms and light weapons (SALW) into the country, such that access to illegal weapons has made crime more dangerous, made criminals and insurgents bolder when facing security agents, and rendered crime fighting more difficult and more expensive. The call on the military in aid of civil authority to deal with crime will not reduce in the short run.

Beyond the demand for more men and women to join the military, the skills and equipment of the military and other security agencies must be upgraded to improve intelligence gathering and intervention effectiveness. These may require the redeployment of resources among the competing needs of the various subsectors of the security establishment.  We have had too many incidents of the death of soldiers in the anti-crime and counter-insurgency operations. It is time to take radical steps to reposition the military. Some of these deaths do not appear inevitable.