76-Year-Old War Veteran Speaks Out
Col. Nasiru Salami (retd.), a 76-year-old Nigerian civil war veteran and Secretary of the Nigerian Legion, Lagos Chapter, has decried the poor treatment of retired army personnel by military authorities, citing it as the reason he would never allow his children to join the Nigerian Army.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief to commemorate the 2025 Armed Forces Remembrance Day, Salami recounted his harrowing experiences during the Biafra War.
Enlisting in October 1967, Salami was sent to the battlefield just six weeks after training, spending 11 months fighting in the civil war between 1967 and 1970. During the war, he suffered the loss of his right foot, which was later amputated. Despite his injury, he returned to the battlefield.
Now a father, Salami is resolute in his stance against encouraging 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?”
He added, “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.’”
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Salami revealed that over 50 years after the war, neither he nor his fellow civil war survivors have received the war bonuses promised to them. Additionally, he lamented the delay in his pension and post-retirement benefits.
“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, urging the government to improve the welfare of retired soldiers.
The Nigerian Legion in Lagos State has over 24,000 members, many of whom share similar struggles. Salami appealed to the authorities to honor their promises and ensure better living conditions for war veterans.
