Nigerian Army to Recruit Eligible IDPs

The Nigerian Army is prepared to boost the defense system of the country using eligible internally displaced persons who have indicated interest in the security outfit.

 

File Photo - Internally Displaced Persons

 

The Nigerian Army, yesterday, said it would soon begin recruitment of eligible internally displaced persons, IDPs, in all camps in the country into the Army, especially those displaced by Boko Haram insurgents.

 

Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, spoke in reaction to IDPs and vulnerable children in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, camps, who told the Army chief of their interest to be enlisted into the service.

 

He said the development would be part of measures to meaningfully engage the IDPs not only to be useful to themselves, but also make meaningful contributions to the development of the country.

 

Lt-Gen. Buratai, who spoke 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, called on the children to dedicate themselves to their studies.

 

He said when the exercise comes up, those eligible for enlistment should apply, saying like other candidates, they would undergo all necessary procedures. While expressing concern over what they might have gone through in the wake of the insurgency, he encouraged them to continue to have hope in themselves as well as God as their source of inspiration.

 

Buratai, who was represented by the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Nigerian Army, Major General Peter Bojie, used the occasion to pledge Army’s commitment to its constitutional mandate of safeguarding the lives and properties of people in towns and villages destroyed by Boko Haram .

 

Earlier, Principal of the school, Mr. Ben Onwubinjo, disclosed that the Praxis Catholic e-School awarded full scholarship to 300 IDPs and vulnerable children to cover boarding, medication, feeding, tuition as well as skill acquisition for three years.

 

He said the 300 IDPs in the school were selected from 14 camps in the FCT and Nasarawa State, adding that they hailed from Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.