Government has ‘refused to invest’ in mental care of soldiers

Past and present government have refused to invest in the mental care of soldiers, a military commander has said.

The senior military officer said this is partly responsible for the delay in the victory against insurgency

He said soldiers fighting the Boko Haram war were usually depressed.

On Saturday, TheCable reported the case of a soldier who killed himself out of frustration. 

The tragic incident came barely a month after a staff sergeant identified as Silas Ninyo killed one K. Mani, his superior, and injured four people in the Chibok local government area of Borno state.

“Soldiers in the battlefield experience depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. And both the military and the Nigerian society at large are not trained for this emergency,” the commander said.

“Soldiers are human beings with flesh and blood; they suffer from a great deal of anxiety and fatigue. With these you are bound to have problems with professionalism and with civil-military relations.”