TheCable

A considerable number of female applicants have been shortlisted for the Nigerian army direct short service combatant course (DSSC) and short service combatant course (SSC).

In a document seen by TheCable, 115 females from various states were shortlisted for commission into the DSSC.

The course is for applicants who want to further in their respective fields of study in the military. It lasts for 15 years, but with an option of converting to a direct regular commission after three years as an officer.

There have been insinuations in some quarters that the Nigeria army has the plan to scrap the enlistment of females into its combatant programme.

But a senior army officer told TheCable the issues concerning the enlistment of females was restricted for the direct regular commission in the Nigeria Defence Academy where cadets are expected to spend five years in training and commissioned as regular combatants.

He said: “It is not entirely true that the military wants to stop the enlistment of female cadets into the Nigeria Defence Academy, but to reduce the 50/50 ratio for both males and females that was introduced during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

“What is being muted is for an 80/20 percent enlistment ratio for males and females, and this is due to a couple of factors that are in no way related to religion or ethnicity as speculated in some certain quarters, but strictly for professionalism” he stated.”

In 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan ordered that females interested in becoming combatant officers for the armed forces should be admitted into the Nigeria Defence Academy.

He had said the female regular combatant officers will have equal opportunity with their male counterparts, including commanding major units of the army and flying fighter jets of the air force.