Nigerian Army reportedly locks up soldier who complained about inability to visit his family due to transport fare
A Nigerian soldier who went viral recently after her complained of the exorbitant transport fare and his inability to travel home to see his family from his station in Maiduguri, Borno State has allegedly been detained by the army.
The soldier had in a trending video lamented how he spent one year in the bush in Borno and was given a pass to visit his family but could not go because of his N50,000 salary.
In the video, the soldier said he was told at the motor park that the transport fare to his town was N35,000, meaning that the trip would cost him N70,000 to and fro.
Speaking in pidgin English, the soldier said:
“See wahala oo, the Nigerian Army gave me a pass as I spent one year in Maiduguri today, they gave me a pass to go and see my family. As I left the bush, I reached the park and they (transporters) told me that from here to my town is N35,000. I calculated it and going and coming back is N70,000 and N50,000 is my salary that I was paid this month. I don’t have any option again; I’m going back to the bush.”
Sahara Reporters, in a report, claimed multiple military sources said the soldier had been locked up in the ‘guardroom’ for days over the video considered embarrassing by the army authorities.
“Our colleague who complained about the transport fare more than his salary has been locked up in the guardroom,” one of the sources said
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, recently said that soldiers and military officers earn less than N50,000 as monthly salaries while Generals and soldiers on operations get N1,200 for feeding daily. The CDS disclosed this during an interview where he said that Nigerian soldiers and military officers were doing well and therefore should be paid salaries that were worth the jobs to encourage them to do more.
