Improper recruitment in army caused by indiscipline -Azazi
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Andrew Azazi, says improper recruitment into the Nigerian Army was responsible for the decline in discipline in the force.
Azazi made the remark Wednesday in Abuja while declaring open a one-day Nigerian Army workshop on e-recruitment for artisans and tradesmen.
He said the decline in discipline, ethics, customs, traditions and professionalism in the Nigerian army were as a result of poor recruitment exercises in the past.
Azazi said recruitments over time were saddled with a host of problems that had tended to tarnish the image of the force.
He said illegal practices like sale of fake forms, lack of accountability, undue lobbying for candidates and inducement of recruitment officers degraded the integrity of previous recruitments.
Azazi said to halt the decay, the force had embarked on a conscious and deliberate effort to transform itself into a force for good.
``We have adopted strategies aimed at the re-orientation of personnel, enshrining discipline and inculcating the spirit of commitment among others,'' he said.
Azazi said the army would soon have a more educated, professional, better managed, highly motivated and focused army capable of meeting present day security challenges.
The workshop, according to him, would not only help in identifying the special skills of individuals to be recruited but also ensure establishment of culture of best practice in the army.
He charged the participants to take full advantage of the opportunity provided by the forum to acquaint themselves with the process involved.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that 46 participants on the ranks of Major and Lt.-Col. drawn from army formations across the country, are attending the workshop.
Meanwhile, the nation's army is to begin recruitment of its prospective candidates through the electronic recruitment system.
This was contained in a letter to the Kwara state government, signed by the Chief of Administration, Army Headquarters, Maj.-Gen Danladi Pennap, a copy of which was made available to NAN Wednesday in Ilorin.
Otherwise known as online recruitment, the army chief said the new system was introduced to check the various vices associated with the present recruitment system.
Accordingly, under the new system, application forms are to be received from prospective soldiers on-line through the institution's web site.
The letter gave the address of the web site as www.unitybank-ts.com/na.
It, however, explained that this would be preceded by the acquisition of a scratch card by the applicants from designated participating banks.
Such scratch cards are to be obtained at branches of Unity Bank Plc nationwide, Pennap said.