NEWS
Nigerian Army detains viral soldier who decried earning N50k and not being able to go home due to N70k transport fee
A Nigerian soldier is said to have been detained after he went viral following a complaint of not being able to visit his family due to the high transport ratio to his monthly income as a soldier.
TopNaija gathered that the soldier stationed in Maiduguri, Borno State, had exerted his frustration of having spent one year in the bush, but still wasn’t able to return back home despite given a pass, because his salary was N50,000.
According to the soldier, 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 Repoirters in a report published on February 6, stated that multiple military sources say the soldier has 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
General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), had 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.
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