The first striking thing about it is the Islamic inscription used as the motto, which of course is not understood by over half of the Nigerian population, and therefore begs the question, 'Why does the Nigerian Army choose to, till this day, use an Islamic inscription as its logo, even in a country as diverse in religion and tribe as Nigeria'?
Why do we have English as our lingua franca and then have this in the military, a military funded and paid for by all Nigerians - Nigerians in South South, South East, South West, North East, North West and North Central. Is this a deliberate attempt to insult the rest of the country or what?
If you weren't told this was the logo of the Nigerian Army, you would think this is a logo of a paramilitary outfit in Northern Nigeria or some sort of parody logo of a real actual logo that has a motto in English inscription.
This decision on this logo cannot possibly be an oversight. It will be very naive to think so. So there has to be some explanation as to the cause of this.
Well, here is someone's explanation and biased defense of this on nairaland.com. To summarize the person's thought, he or she said we should maintain this for historical context. That argument is very wrong consideration the fact that when people come together to call themselves a country, they generally adopt a common identity. If there is one place we cannot afford to have different identities it is our honourable military.
How do the soldiers in the Nigeria Army from other religions and ethnic groups look at this and feel about equity? How have the top military officers of this country, from different backgrounds, sat together over the years and not address this at even an unofficial level for starters? How?
If anyone thinks it is a stupid idea to have a more encompassing logo, a logo we can all read as One Nigeria, then it will be wise to say that various regions of the country should adopt their own logos, the same drawings but this time with an inscription that the people of the area can identify with.
For example, barracks in Yoruba lands should have the inscription is Yoruba, Barracks in Igbo land should have the inscription in Igbo and Barrack in every other area should adopt theirs.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai, can waive a hand this minute and this would be corrected immediately. Let's correct this as soon as possible, for the interest of One Nigeria.
Fair Deal, brothers. Fair Deal!
Twitter: @nigerianbatman
