The ongoing war in Ukraine has brought to light human capacity to side with their military as their country defends its territorial integrity.
In Russia, for example, a country with one of the highest number of volunteer groups in the world, the vast majority of Russians believe that their country is going through a tough time, and the way to preserve the survival of the Motherland, Russia, is that the citizens have to make painful sacrifices. People donate money to buy military equipment such as night vision devices, body armour, uniforms, and foods. On the other hand, the Ukrainians, who bear the brunt of Russian missiles, are upbeat and resolute as they volunteer to enlist themselves in the military, civilian defence forces, fire brigades and even go ahead to donate blood to ensure their country keeps fighting the invaders.
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Nigeria is not hostile to any country, but terrorists and outlawed groups of criminals are threatening the survival of our country, the only place the vast majority of us only know and feel belonged in this world. For over a decade, Nigeria has been grappling with terrorism and insurrection from various fronts with little support from the international community as our military gets outstretched. The problem is not about whether Nigeria has the resources and the manpower to keep fighting the enemies until victory; the longer a conflict lasts, the more troubles it would create for our socioeconomic well-being.
As someone who has travelled to many centres of these conflicts in Nigeria, I am a witness to how our soldiers sacrifice everything with a view to making sure our country survives and our people are able to sleep in peace. We have lost thousands of troops and are still counting.
Anytime we hear of terrorists ambushing civilians, people get angry and directly blame the government for not doing enough to protect them. But rarely do I see people getting worried at the plight of soldiers who patriotically stay in forests as they dodge enemy bullets and artillery shells. A lot of us seem to ignore the trauma in which the families of our fallen heroes find themselves when they discover their breadwinners have died protecting Nigeria. The pain for both the families and the military is beyond measure. Do we even care about these patriotic guys who defend our country? How many times did we care to discuss the heroic actions of our military on social media in order to attract sympathy for our soldiers? We can donate to a charity to provide support to the families of our active and fallen soldiers as well as provide psychological support to our soldiers suffering from the trauma of war, or helping our soldiers with uniforms, clothes and basic necessities to boost their morale?
We need to rise up to our obligation as citizens. Without the support and sacrifice of our military, not an inch of Nigeria will be safe. To pay back as grateful citizens, we should volunteer and massively support them financially and psychologically.
Bashir Aliyu Limanci wrote from Gusau, Zamfara State
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