AS long as I remain the minister of defence, our soldiers will marry the prettiest women, live in the best houses, eat the best food, wear the best clothes and drive the best cars because when war comes, they will be the ones to die first. – Muhammadu Ribadu.
If I did not get the above quotation right, I would not be far off the correct one. I vividly recall reading the book Power of Powers, A Biography of the Late Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu, in which the above quotation was narrated the year it was published. The 100-page book, published by Gaskiya Corporation in Zaria in 1974, was written by Sidi H. Ali, a veteran journalist and politician who died in April last year. Our late father, a consummate historian who loved books and read a lot, bought it that year and brought it home.
That statement was singular, and I memorised it at that time. It was such a morale booster and enough marketing for the noble profession of soldiering to the impressionable young mind of a then ten-year-old that I yearned to be a soldier. I became active in physical activities and started leading the parade of my primary school, Shehu Garbai, at the Race Course ground during Children’s and Independence Day parades. I also started going to the sports council for boxing lessons after the Borno State Sports Council sent a boxing coach to our school.
I joined the Boy Scouts movement from Class Seven. Encouraged by our father, Borno and later Yobe State assistant scout commissioner, I climbed from Cub Scout to Scout Master at Government College, Maiduguri. The school, with the blessings of the Borno State Ministry of Education, encouraged us to go on hikes and campings, the last of which was in the Gwoza Hills. That was in the good old days when people could travel through the night and menaces like bandits and Boko Haram were not in the equation, not to talk of kidnappings for ransom or ritual killings.
At Government College Maiduguri, I also joined the Cadet, where retired Non-Commissioned Officers took us through the various marching and parade drills, as well as different tactics and strategies of warfare. I saw automatic guns like the MG1 at close quarters; we used them with dummy bullets.
However, in the trajectory of human development, many childhood dreams never materialise. If it were, many of those reading this peace would have been married to Indians. Another dream of youths growing up in the 1970s and 1980s was to marry Indian beauties, having been bewitched by Bollywood screen divas like Hema Malini, Rekha, Jayaprada, Tina Munim, Poonam Dhillon, et al.
As someone who admires a profession that breeds gentlemen whose creed is to protect the country and its citizens, even at the cost of their lives, my heart bleeds whenever a soldier finds himself in a quandary.
I was happy when I read about the perks President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently approved for retired officers. The only misgiving I had was quantifying medical bills in dollars. While one may ask whether that means our hospitals are not going to be upgraded and world-class ones built, one must advise that we should respect our currency so that it attracts respect and dignity. After all, the military is trained to place the nation above every other country, the same for its currency.
Apart from that, all the things approved for them are well deserved, and one prays that the same is extended to the other ranks who bear the brunt of any operation. It is unfair for soldiers to die in, or conclude, military service while their families have no house to go to after leaving the barracks.
I know of the 44 Hospital, an army hospital in Kaduna, and the Air Force hospital in Bauchi. However, with what is happening to our soldiers fighting insurgents and terrorists, the urgent need for a world-class hospital for the military in each of our geopolitical zones cannot be overstated. This should be treated with the utmost urgency and importance.
If the National Assembly, comprising fewer than 3,000 people – if you add all the legislators, staff and their families – would budget ₦15 billion for a hospital, despite their comfortable lives and huge allowances, why shouldn’t our soldiers sleeping in the bushes under inclement weather and facing bullets and bombs to allow us to sleep at night?
When faced with choosing who the government should care for between a Senator and a soldier, the answer is pretty apparent to many Nigerians. But to the generality of Nigerians, the country can do without senators who, in most cases, have no enduring legacies or altruistic records.
Unlike their Roman precursors, senators would never go out to fight for the country. Their Roman forerunners led and fought in wars to demonstrate their leadership and commitment to the state. During crises, such as wars, insurgencies, or invasions, senators often took up arms.
Nigerian soldiers, on the other hand, have been laying down their lives for the country’s unity since independence. They have given up their comforts so that you and I may sleep and the senator can get his humongous allowances for saying ‘aye’ and ‘nay’. Their sacrifice is a testament to their unwavering commitment to our safety and unity, and their new package should be a sign of gratitude from all of us.
- Dr Gimba, anipr, is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime. His syndicated column, The Arbiter, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.