The Nigerian Army has noted that the voluntary retirement of its personnel was not caused by corruption or poor service conditions.
The Army had recently approved the disengagement of a Warrant Officer and 242 others in various formations across the country.
In a statement on Saturday, the army cleared the air on the discharge of the soldiers, stating that voluntary retirement was a routine in the army and, therefore, not linked to low morale or corruption.
The statement titled ‘Voluntary Retirement Or Discharge Is A Routine In The Nigerian Army’ was signed by the Director Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu.
It partly read, “The allegation that soldiers of the Nigerian Army are proceeding on voluntary retirement due to alleged corruption, poor service conditions and low morale as recently reported by some media outfits in the social media is nothing but a concoction of the imagination of the unrepentant enemies of the nation and mischief makers and should be outrightly discountenanced by the public.
“The subjective and unethical report is a distraction and another failed attempt at dampening the morale and fighting will of the loyal, dedicated and patriotic fighting force of the NA.
“Perhaps these impenitent mischief makers need to be schooled to understand that the NA is not a conscript Army and that recruitment into the NA is voluntary with extant policy on discharge and retirement of soldiers and officers respectively, like other organizations.
“This provides its personnel the opportunity to apply for voluntary discharge, when they deem fit and meet the terms and conditions as
stipulated in the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Service soldiers/ratings/airmen (Revised) 2017.
“It is thus, the inalienable right of a personnel to voluntarily or on medical grounds apply for discharge, if they meet the terms. It is therefore not an aberration that the COAS granted approval for 91 NA/32/4792 WO NDAGANA ISHIAKU and 242 others to voluntarily discharge from the NA, as being unprofessionally manipulated by some media.”