Female Combatants : Documents Expose Military's

Documents obtained by Saturday PUNCH show that the military is not truthful in its denial of its intention to bar women cadets from being admitted into the Nigerian Defence Academy as combatant officers.

The 32-page document, which is marked ‘restricted’, shows the ‘Terms and Conditions of Service Officers 2012’ and new amendments made to it, one of which is the stopping of the programme for female combatant officers. The PUNCH had reported on Monday that the military was set to end the program due to pressure from some northern conservatives. The issue is already being investigated by the House of Representatives.

However, the Director, Defence Information, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche had said in a rebuttal that, “The contents of all those publications are ill-intended concoctions, not authentic and should, therefore, be disregarded completely.” He added that the extent “provision in the terms and conditions of service for female officers of the Nigerian military is that ‘they are eligible for all the types of commission that are grantable to their male counterparts, which has not changed.”

Saturday PUNCH, which has since obtained documents, can confirm that Recommendation 19 of the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of the Armed Forces of Nigeria reads: “Phase out the training of female regular combatant cadets.” The recommendation was recently added to the 2012 Terms and Conditions of Service Officers (Revised).

Source: punch

UCJ, UNILORIN.