The Nigerian Army has lamented poor enlistment of South-east youths into the country’s military.
Leader of the 2025 Army Recruitment Enlightenment Team Chima Ekeator disclosed this on Friday.
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Mr Ekeator, a brigadier-general, spoke during an enlightenment town hall meeting with chairpersons of local government areas as well as traditional rulers in the state.
The army chief, who hails from the South-east, pointed out that while Kaduna State had recorded over 3,000 applications in the ongoing 2025 recruitment exercise, Enugu State was still struggling with just a hundred.
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He stressed that like in Enugu, the army also had received poor applications from other states in the South-east.
Mr Ekeator appealed to youths from the South-east to have a change of attitude by applying in their numbers in the ongoing 2025 recruitment exercise to fill their quotas.
“Our people are losing what rightly belongs to them. Each year, whenever a slot is being allocated to our people, we keep noticing that the number of applicants from our side is usually very poor.
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“Take for example, Enugu State was given about 200 slots, but the people who made it were never up to 100 due to poor application. This has also become a recurring decimal in other states in the South-east,” he said.
The army chief refuted the allegation that people of the South-east were being killed in their numbers in the military because they were often the first to be sent to the battle fronts.
“These things are not true. After all, we that are here (Nigerian military) have risen high in the army and we are telling you that they are lies.
“Today in the Nigerian Army, our brother is one of the top commanders in charge of equipment. His name is Chibueze Ogbuabor,” he stated.
‘Review mode of advertising’
Speaking at the event, the Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development in Enugu State, Lloyd Ekweremadu, regretted that the problem had persisted despite the collective efforts to reverse the trend.
Mr Ekweremadu, a lawyer, appealed to Nigerian Army authorities to review the mode of advertising such opportunities.
He added that there was a need to provide in the advertisement details about benefits of serving in the army.
“While seated here, I was just trying to conduct a very quick research and it appears this same problem is happening worldwide and militaries across the world are deploying more cutting-edge strategies for recruitment because we are talking about the new generation that you communicate in a different way from the past,” he said.
The commissioner reiterated that the administration of the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah, was committed to ensuring that the state filled its quota in the ongoing recruitment process.
He described the military as a noble and highly respected profession across the world.
On his part, the Chairperson of the Enugu State Chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Okechukwu Edeh, promised to ensure stronger cooperation of local government administrations with the military to address the issue.
Mr Edeh, the chairperson of Nkanu East Local Government Area, asked the Nigerian military authorities to consider addressing possible concerns of the Igbo youths to make the service more appealing to them.
Some traditional rulers and town union presidents who spoke at the event appealed to youths from the South-east to enlist in the army.
One of the traditional rulers, Israel Mbah, called for more enlightenment to change the orientation of South-east youths positively in order to get them to join the military.
“I was a military man before. I survived every war. I did mine and today I am a traditional ruler. So, I believe that our young people should join the force,” said Mr Mbah, a retired lieutenant colonel and the traditional ruler of Nomeh Unateze.
Background
The South-east has continued to record poor applications for recruitment into various Nigeria’s security agencies including the army and police in recent years.
While some claim the fear that authorities could deploy South-east youths to war-torn areas was responsible for the apathy, others blame the frequent calls by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), that youths from the region should shun joining the country’s security agencies.
IPOB is seeking the secession of South-east and some parts of the South-south from Nigeria.
The group has been linked to some deadly attacks in the two regions, although they have repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks.
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