Colonel Nasiru Salami (retd), a 76-year-old veteran of the Nigerian Civil War, has voiced his frustration over what he described as the neglect and poor treatment of retired soldiers by the Nigerian military.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Tv’s The Morning Brief during the 2025 Armed Forces Remembrance Day on Wednesday, January 15, Col. Salami reflected on his time in the army and the sacrifices made during the civil war.
Salami said he joined the Nigerian Army in October 1967, and within just six weeks of his enlistment, he was sent into the heat of battle in the Biafra war.
He spent 11 grueling months on the battlefield, where he sustained severe injuries, including the loss of his right foot, which had to be amputated. Despite this life-changing injury, he returned to the front lines to continue fighting.
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Now the Secretary of the Nigerian Legion in Lagos, Col. Salami expressed his deep disappointment with the military’s failure to adequately care for its retirees.
Reflecting on his personal experience, he said, “For now, I will never recommend any of my children to join the Nigerian Army. 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.”
He shared that he actively discouraged his children, including two university graduates, from pursuing careers in the army, however, he preferred the Navy or Air Force, because he has been seeing how better they are being treated, compared to the Army.
“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,” he said.
Salami also shed light on the struggles faced by other veterans. According to him, the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Legion, which he is a Secretary, has over 24,000 members.
Many, like him, are still waiting for their war bonuses and other entitlements more than five decades after the civil war ended. He lamented that the government has failed to fulfill their promises, noting that his pension and post-retirement benefits remain unpaid.
