By AbdurRaheem Sa’ad Dembo
It was on the 10th December, 2023 when I had the opportunity to travel to Maiduguri on official assignment,I passed my night on the 9th December in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State.I felt at home, because I had my youth service in the city. In other words,it was a home coming.
Interestingly, I completed my youth service in February 2008 but on getting to Damaturu that night it was a good experience as the city had been transformed in terms of roads and other infrastructures.What preoccupied my mind was the fact that within the spate of fifteen years Yobe State had witnessed that huge development and transformation .The streetlights and the roads are amazing.The old Gujba road that used to be single lane had been dualized with proper lightening.In the first instance,I thought I was in Lagos, because the lightening covers several kilometers.I am talking about this because I have seen the dividends of democracy there.
It is imperative to establish that Yobe State Governors over the years have provided necessary infrastructures for the state. A colleague of mine who works in Damaturu told me that the administration of Ibrahim Geidam provided those appealing infrastructures. He also said the current administration is also doing well by maintaining the old infrastructures and building new ones. I cannot probe him further since there was no enough time to ask more questions.
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In the early morning of 10th December we left for Maiduguri but on getting to Ngamdi the military couldn’t allow us and other motorists to proceed further. When I ask other motorists, they said it was the usual practice in order to ensure the security of lives and property. One of them explained that you can no longer travel in the night from Damaturu to Maiduguri.A little later the military opened the road and every other motorist began their journey
As we journey through Benisheik ,Jakana to Auno it was not an easy moment for me as I was busy praying silently.The military presence on the road is commendable and reassuring. Seeing them alone was a precipitation of an assurance Our military is doing so well in fighting insurgency and banditry.They are being over stretched, yet poorly remunerated.Their major existence is to secure territorial integrity of our Nation.Today they have been involved in internal security, which is not their domain of activities. Appreciate and pray for our military for their resilience and determination to secure Nigeria.
Recently I read a report which centered on poor remuneration for soldiers and that a soldier got less than 50,000 naira monthly salary.To substantiate this, the Chief of Defence staff,LT General Christopher Musa recently at the House of Representatives disclosed that his feeding allowance is 1,500 per day. It is not encouraging at all going by the current economic reality in the country.Our soldiers deserve better condition of service as they have been putting so much in securing the country.
As a young boy who had opportunity to live in the barracks in the 90s, I was aware of furniture allowance being paid to soldiers, but the information available to me at the moment suggests that such benefits had been stopped even before Buhari’s administration came onboard.
A ravenous soldier may be deprived of hundred percent concentration in the battle field and going by the multifaceted security challenge as a Nation battling with such, the federal government should Jack up their payment and improve their welfare packages
