File: House of Representatives
The House of Representatives has moved to stop the Nigerian Army’s policy of automatically merging years spent in service as soldiers with years served as commissioned officers, warning that the practice is forcing experienced personnel out of service prematurely and creating avoidable manpower shortages.
The move followed the consideration of a motion on notice moved by Adamawa lawmaker, Zakaria Nyampa on the need to review and discontinue the automatic merger of service years for personnel commissioned through the Short Service Combatant Commission, Direct Short Service Commission and Direct Regular Commission.
Presenting the motion, Nyampa noted that the Nigerian Army currently operates a policy that automatically merges years spent in service as soldiers with years served as officers after commissioning.
He explained that the policy also counts periods spent in university education or awaiting commissioning as part of an officer’s total reckonable service.
