Soldiers oppose sanitation levy at Ojo Military Cantonment

The imposition of compulsory sanitation levies on the occupants of the Ojo Military Contonment has generated tension and disaffection between them and the barracks commander, Lt. Col Henry Mubakwe.

Mubakwe was said to have issued the order last Saturday at the 149 battalion’s club where he met with all the block leaders in the barracks.

A soldier, who introduced himself simply as Gabriel, said the usual military tradition was that the authorities would pay the soldiers to clean up the environment.

He said, “In the army, the tradition is that soldiers living in the barracks are paid quarterly to maintain their houses and environment. This payment is reflected in the pay slip. To the best of my knowledge, all the commanders in Lagos State are being paid this subvention.

“Last Saturday, Mubakwe sent for all the block leaders in the barracks. He spoke with them for over three hours and the issue of cleanliness came up.”

PUNCH Metro learnt that at the end of the meeting the commander introduced the mandatory payment of levies on the first week of every month.

The sum of N400 was to be paid by each apartment to the block leaders who would in turn bring the total sum collected to Mubakwe’s office.

Another soldier, Anthony, told our correspondent that the troops became dissatisfied when the total of the collection was revealed.

He said, “There are 10 apartments in a block and over 2,000 servicing blocks in the barracks, not counting the dilapidated ones. That makes it N4,000 per block and N8m for the entire barracks.

“I learned the block leaders protested this new rule and questioned it but Mubakwe told them that the army was not paying him block maintenance fees except for the quarterly maintenance.

 He allegedly said the levy was for the clearing of refuse in the cantonment,” another source.”

Mubakwe was said to have eventually silenced the protests by threatening everyone with charge of mutiny, citing the example of the 27 soldiers who were charged with the same offence for protesting nonpayment of their allowances in Akure.

Gabriel said, “He told the block leaders that it was okay for them to complain so long as it was not to his hearing. Any soldier who defaulted in paying his sanitation levy is to have his light disconnected from the transformer. The enforcement of this new rule is supposed to take effect from March.”

However, the spokesperson for the 81 division, Col. Kingsley Umoh, debunked the alleged imposition of the levy, describing it as false.

He said, “No commander in the Nigerian Army can force any soldier to pay levies. An agreement would have to be reached through a series of meetings with all the soldiers in the barracks.

“There is nothing fraudulent about the levy, it is has been going on for a while. Even at Ikeja barracks where I stay, we pay a meager sum of N100 to get our refuse disposed of by the PSP.

“There is so much refuse being generated by the Ojo cantonment and there has to be a way to get rid of it all.  I don’t know if refuse disposal is included in the quarterly maintenance budget paid by the army; and possibly also, it might not be enough to take care of refuse disposal.

“Funds are scarce everywhere and we just have to find another”

PUNCH