The Army last week
promoted 22 Brigadier Generals to the rank of Major General and 37 Colonels to
the rank of Brigadier General. Also promoted were 91 Lieutenant Colonels to the
rank of Colonel.
Weeks earlier, the
Navy also conducted its own promotions of 112 officers.
Daily Trust learnt
that many officers feel aggrieved because they are left out of the promotions
exercise even though they are qualified and that there are vacancies to fill.
There are also
allegations that certain sections of the country have been favoured to the
detriment of others.
In the list of Army
promotions published last week, no details of state of origin of the officers
were given.
But Daily Trust
learnt that of those promoted to Major Generals, South-South has 5, South-West
4, South-East 3, North-Central 4, North-West 3 and North-East 3.
Colonels promoted
to Brigadier Generals in the North-West were 4, North-Central 8, Northeast 1,
South-East 7, South-West 9 while South-South got 8.
A source told Daily
Trust that in a particular Army corps, only two officers were promoted to the
rank of Brigadier General even though many vacancies were available.
When contacted, the
Director of Army Public Relations, newly-promoted Major General Mobolaji
Koleoso, said he was not aware about the allegations and will not make comment
on them.
In the Navy, 112
senior officers were promoted to various ranks late last month. The exercise
involved 19 Commodores moved to the rank of Rear Admiral, 40 Captains to the
rank of Commodore, 33 Commanders to the rank of Captain and 20 Lieutenant
Commanders to the rank of Commander.
A senior officer in
the Navy said the promotions were skewed against the North, with no officer
from the Northeast getting promoted even though there is a particular state
that has four officers on the promotions list.
Navy’s Director of
Information Commodore Kabir Aliyu could not be reached for comments.
‘How military
officers are promoted’
A source in the
military gave Daily Trust an insight into how promotions are done in the armed
forces.
“On the promotion
calendar, a particular course year for regular and short service officers is
supposed to be promoted to the rank of Major General, Brigadier General and
Colonel,” the source said.
“However, because
of the inability of their predecessors billed for promotion to secure promotion
and move on, it became difficult for some of the officers to be promoted even
though they are qualified for promotion.
“Therefore, those
who are due for promotion have to wait for the top to be cleared. By implication,
some of these officers have to spend more years on a particular rank against
the establishment standard of progression in the military.
“In order to pacify
some of these officers and keep the system moving, some of them have to be
promoted and retired to give space for others.”
On requirements for
promotion, the source explained further: “The Army has established
qualification requirements for promotion of officers. There are basically
three requirements: C+ from either War Collage, Command and Staff Collage and
other courses; awards garnered during the period like the Chief of Army
Staff award, National Honour, Personal Evaluation Report (PER) for good
conducts and establishment; and lastly geo political zone to balance the
equation. All these depend on when there is vacancy and age on rank.”
The source also
said in spite of the criteria, favouritism may creep in.
“You cannot rule
out favour in such kind of activity. It is natural some will be favoured but it
minimal in the army because of the discipline,” he said.
“If you look at the
promotion, you will find out that while some geopolitical zones have two or
three Generals, others have six and above.”
Regarding the “age
on rank” policy, the source said under this, “you are expected to make the rank
of a Brigadier between the age 50 and 53, Major General 53 and 55.”