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I Can’t Allow My Children Join Nigerian Army- 76-Year-Old Veteran 

Retired Colonel Nasiru Salami, a 76-year-old military veteran, has expressed deep concern over what he considers the inadequate treatment of Nigerian Army retirees by military authorities. Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief during the 2025 Armed Forces Remembrance Day on Wednesday, the civil war veteran shared his poignant experiences.

Col. Salami recounted his journey in the military, beginning with his enlistment into the Nigerian Army in October 1967. After just six weeks of training, he was deployed directly to the battlefield during the Biafra war. Serving on the frontlines for 11 months between 1967 and 1970, Salami vividly described how he nearly lost his right foot due to severe injuries, which required plastic implants. Despite this ordeal, he returned to the battlefield to continue fighting.

Now serving as the Secretary of the Nigerian Legion, Lagos Chapter, Salami’s account underscores the sacrifices made by veterans and their ongoing struggles.

Salami said he won’t encourage any of his children to join the Nigerian Army. “For now, I will never recommend any of my children to join the Nigerian Army,” he said.

“I am their father and they are seeing me now that my life is not to their expectation. They would want me to be higher than this, full of joy and other things that would make them happy. How would I now encourage them to join the army?

“I have two graduates now and I said to them: ‘Never you think of going to join the army. If you want to join, maybe the Navy or the Air Force. I’ve not been there but I’ve been seeing them and I’ve been hearing about them because they are treated better’.”

Salami said the Nigerian Legion in Lagos has over 24,000 members and that the Nigerian government was yet to pay him and his civil war survivors war bonuses over 50 years after. He also complained about his unpaid pension and other post-retirement packages.

“We are asking for war bonus, those of us who fought the war. I retired in December 1983 and they promised us heaven and earth that they would give us our war bonus but up till now, we have not seen it,” he said, appealing to the government to do the needful and improve the welfare of him and his colleagues.

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