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The Nigerian Army has expressed concern over the low participation of Igbo youth in its ongoing recruitment exercise, attributing the trend to longstanding grievances and perceived marginalisation.
As of Wednesday, only 200 applicants had registered from the South-East, prompting the Army to appeal to youths in the region to seize the opportunity and fill their recruitment quota.
“This programme is necessary because, according to records, only 200 persons have registered from the South-East, while in other states, not less than 4000 persons have registered”, leader of Army Force Headquarters Recruitment Sensitisation Team, Anambra, Brig.-Gen. Chima Ekeator, had said.
Reacting to concerns raised by the Ekeator, Igbo leaders posited that the lingering effects of the Biafra war and perceived injustices meted out to the region have seemingly created a sense of distrust among Igbo youths towards federal institutions, including the military.
Lending his voice, the founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie, noted that the lack of interest by Igbo youths was not only in the Army but also in the Police and other federal institutions.
“It’s sad that the lack of interest is being noticed now, it has been there since the end of the Nigerian-Biafran war”, Okorie stated.
Impossible bribes
According to him, after the civil war, Igbo young men and women who applied for job opportunities like other Nigerians were not recruited, and in some cases, recruiting officers would demand impossible bribes from the Igbo applicants.
This, he explained, made many youths lose interest, believing that government jobs like the police and the military were not meant for them. “Gradually, Ndigbo began to look for other means of gainful employment other than federal institutions. So, I am not surprised.”
On what should be done to reverse the tide, the APGA chieftain said: “What the government should do if they are really interested in Igbo people taking up their quota, is to assure them that they will be given the same level playing ground like other people. They will have to make more effort in convincing our youths”.
Last-minute
Also speaking, former President of an Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, said the youth do not see the armed forces as a credible body for which they can enlist and be ready to die for.
Uwazurike said: “Right now, in Igbo land, the youth fear the armed forces and the police more than they fear the criminal gangs. The armed forces must do more to assure the youth that the armed forces and the police are in Igbo land for the good of the people.
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