The Nigerian army recently decried the poor enlistment of the South-East youths into the Nigerian military service and called for attitudinal change to reverse the ugly trend. The leader of 2025 Army recruitment enlightenment team, Brigadier-General Chima Ekeator, called on Enugu and South-East youths to fill their slots in the current recruitment exercise. Ekeator explained that while Kaduna State has recorded over 3,000 applications in the ongoing recruitment exercise, Enugu State is still lagging behind. Brigadier-General Ekeator, who disclosed this during an enlightenment town hall meeting with local government chairmen, traditional rulers, presidents-general of town unions and leaders of though in Enugu recently said: “our people are losing what rightly belongs to them.” He bemoaned that “Enugu State was given 200 slots but the people who made it were never up to 100 due to poor application.”
We decry the poor attitude of South-East youths in enlisting into military service and urge the youths to quickly change their aversion or apathy towards military service. We urge officers like Brigadier-General Ekeator and others from the five states of the South-East region to deepen this campaign to make the South-East youths to embrace military service like their counterparts from Kaduna and other Northern states. While the campaign is being intensified, the military authorities should also investigate why youths from the South-East are no longer keen in filling the region’s quotas. Perhaps a change in the mode of recruitment and treatment of those from the South-East region can change the narrative. With huge loss of many officers of South-East region during the counter coup of July 29, 1966 and the lumping of all Igbos into five states as against six which others have, the South-East is greatly at disadvantage when it comes to military recruitment. The matter will further be worsened now that our youths are no longer interest in military service. The situation should worry the federal government and the South-East leaders because the zone is unduly misrepresented. The preferential treatment during posting for military operations in favour of officers from a certain region in the country can make youths from the South-East to elect to keep away until the situation is changed. Nigerian military should be a national institution for moulding patriotic and fearless officers. Attempt should be made to accord equal treatment to all the recruits and officers. Another problem making the South-East youths to detest enlistment into military service is the apparent limiting of officers from the South-East to certain ranks in the army, after which they will be retired. This glass ceiling can cause the South-East youths not to be interested in military service. The political marginalization of the South-East region by successive Nigerian governments can also be a reason for this apathy over enlistment into military service by South-East youths.
The Nigerian military hierarchy must devise a means to mend the toxic relationship between them and the people of the South-East. Such peace moves could include seminars, lectures and other friendly public overtures which would restore hope and love between the two parties.
The South-East youths should be sensitized to join the Nigerian military because it is a national institution. Political leaders in the region, traditional rulers, heads of institutions, and other stakeholders should use various available avenues to encourage youths in the region to join the Nigerian army. Every region in the country deserves to be adequately represented in any national institution to reflect national cohesion, peace, unity and progress. No region in the country should dominate any national institution to the extent that it becomes obvious to everyone that a particular region is marginalized while another region is favoured. It is hoped that since the Nigerian army has decried the low enlistment of South-East youths into the military, there will be efforts to address all the issues causing misgivings from the region. The issue of trust should also be adequately addressed. The Nigerian army must ensure that through its activities and internal configuration, it can win the trust and confidence of people from the South-East region. The Nigerian Army needs the strength, intelligence, and youthful zeal of all the regions in the country and the South-East should not be left out.