Most northerners applying for recruitment into the force are hepatitis patients - Defence minister

macfranc007 January 07, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Onyirioha Nnamdi

- The minister of defence, Mansur Dan Ali, urges parents to allow their children go for hepatitis test before applying for recruitment in the force

- Mansur notes that the disease is curable

- He remarks that he has notified the minister of health on finding a cure for the disease among Nigerians

Mansur Dan Ali, the minister of defence, said hepatitis has been discovered to be responsible for the disqualification of northern youths into the Nigerian military.

As Mansur revealed, many Northern applicants looking for recruitment into the army are rejected because ‎of hepatitis.

He therefore admonished parents to allow their children do hepatitis test before applying. Mansur, while responding to questions on the disease in a programme, said it is curable.

He said: "Parents, particularly Northerners must take this issue seriously because majority of the youths disqualified during military recruitment are those with hepatitis.

"We need to imbibe the culture of taken our children for testing. Even though, Hepatitis is treatable, military will not recruit any person found with it until it's cured. Another sickness is hypertension. ‎Today, you will find small children with hypertension."

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He further said: "All these are responsible for the disqualification because if not treated on time it affects liver. Military is a highly disciplined profession and only those with fitness and healthy get recruited."

The minister also said he has notified the minister of health on the increase of hepatitis among Nigerians in a bid to finding a permanent cure for it.

NAIJ.com reported earlier that four hundred and three soldiers, who have completed a six-month training in new skills had formally bowed out of the service.

The soldiers, comprising 281 from the Nigerian Army, 17 from the Nigerian Navy and 105 from the Nigerian Air Force were sent off at a passing-out ceremony held at the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre, NAFRC, in Oshodi, Lagos.

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