Buratai: Army to Recruit Eligible IDPs

Paul Obi in Abuja

The Nigerian Army has said plans are underway to recruit eligible Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency into the army.

The move to recruit IDPs is sequel upon several pleas by the IDPs to top military brass to be enlisted into the military

The Nigerian Army Headquarters maintained that the desire to recruit IDPs forms part of the strategy to empower them in critical areas of human endeavours in order to enable them contribute to national development.

Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai stated this in Abuja yesterday during the presentation of food and school items to Praxis Catholic e-School, renamed Hajia Aisha Buhari Special School for IDPs and Vulnerable Children, Abuja.

Buratai, who was represented by the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Nigerian Army, Major General Peter Bojie, stated that whenever “the exercise comes up, those eligible for enlistment should apply; like any other candidates, they will undergo all necessary procedures.”

He promised that the “military commitment to continue in its constitutional mandate of safeguarding the lives and property of people in towns and villages destroyed by the Boko Haram.”

The COAS stressed that “the military will bring lasting peace for educational and other socio-cultural activities to strive for development of Nigeria. That goes for those who are still stranded and are yet to be rescued,” he added.