BOOK REVIEW

Title: Serving the Nation: Exploring Mandatory Military Service for Nigerian Youth

Author: Dr. M. S. Abubakar

Publisher: Sprezzatura Publishing Limited, Abuja

Year: 2025

Length: 288 pages

ISBN: 978-978-61705

Reviewer: Major General Lawrence Onoja (Rtd.), PhD, mni, CFN

Introduction

Serving the Nation: Exploring Mandatory Military Service for Nigerian Youth is a timely, ambitious, and intellectually grounded intervention in one of the most consequential debates confronting contemporary Nigeria: how to reconcile youth development, national cohesion, and internal security within a rapidly evolving threat environment. Authored by Dr. M. S. Abubakar, a scholar with a clear grasp of Nigeria’s socio-political and security realities, the book advances a carefully structured argument in favour of mandatory military service as a strategic instrument for nation-building, patriotism, and collective security responsibility.

The book is dedicated to Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai (Rtd), formal Chief of Army Staff, whose Foreword situates the work firmly within the lived realities of military leadership and national defence. This association alone signals the seriousness of the project and its intended contribution to policy, doctrine, and national discourse.

Structure and Thematic Development

The book is organized into twelve well-sequenced chapters, preceded by a lucid introduction and complemented by a reflective preface authored by the writer himself. The introduction clearly frames the conceptual, moral, and strategic debates surrounding compulsory military service, acknowledging both its advocates and critics while establishing the author’s normative position.

Chapter One, The Call to Arms, sets the philosophical tone, invoking civic duty, sacrifice, and the historical responsibility of citizens in defending the state. This is followed by Chapter ethnic, political, and security landscape: an essential corrective to the uncritical transplantation of foreign models.

One of the book’s strongest empirical contributions appears in Chapter Three, which presents a survey-based assessment of Nigeria perceptions of mandatory military service. This chapter is particularly commendable for moving beyond conjecture and anchoring the debate in data, revealing nuanced public attitudes that challenge simplistic assumptions about your resistance or apathy.

Chapters Four and Five, on Pathways to implementation and Leadership in Military Training   

and Service demonstrate the author’s practical sensibility, rather than advocating an abstract policy ideal. Dr. Abubakar confronts institutional realities:  command responsibility, civil-military relations, training ethics, and leadership culture. These chapters will resonate determined by leadership quality and institutional discipline.

Military Service as Education and socialization

Perhaps the most innovative section of the book lies in Chapter Six, When the Uniform Becomes a Classroom. Here, the author reconceptualises military service not merely as combat preparation but as a structured system of civic education, discipline, skills acquisition, and character formation. This argument is further enriched by Chapter Seven’s engagement with traditional stories, which situates military values within indigenous Nigerian moral frameworks, thereby countering the notion that discipline and patriotism are foreign imposition.

Chapter Eight. Creating a culture of Patroiotism, and Chapter Nine, Youth Empowerment through Service, collectively articulate the social dividends of compulsory service: national integration, reduction of youth unemployment, leadership grooming, and the internalization of national rather than sectional identity.

Addressing Criticism and National Security Imperatives

To the author’s credit, Chapter Ten directly confronts concerns and misconceptions surrounding mandatory military service such as human rights, militarization of society, economic const. and political abuse. The discussion is measured rather than defensive, reflecting intellectual honesty and policy maturity.

The book reaches its strategic apex in Chapter Eleven, Winning the Fight against insecurity in Nigeria. Here, Dr. Abubakar advances a compelling thesis: that national security cannot remain the exclusive burden of the armed forces but must evolve into a shared civic enterprises. This argument aligns closely with modern security thinking, where resilience, intelligence, and societal participation are as decisive as firepower.

Chapter Twelve, Embracing the Call. serves as a reflective conclusion, urging policy makers, military leaders, and citizens alike to reimagine service as honour rather than compulsion.

Scholarly Merit and Contribution.

The book is well-referenced, drawing on both Nigerian and international scholarship across military sociology, security studies, and civic education.  This grounding enhances its credibility and positions it as a serious academic contribution rather than a polemical tract.

From the standpoint of a senior retired military officer, the book’s greatest strength lies in its balanced fusion of strategic realism and civic idealism. It neither remanticises the military nor traivialises the complexity of implementation. Instead, it treats mandatory service as a policy option deserving rigorous debate, thoughtful design, and ethical leadership.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Serving the Nation is a significant addition to Nigeria’s national security literature. It will be of value to:

• Senior military officers and defence policymakers
• Legislators and strategic planners
• Scholars of security and civil military relations
• Educators and youth development stakeholders

While one may disagree with aspect of its prescriptions, the book succeeds in elevating the conversation beyond emotion and ideology into the realm of structured national thinking. For a nation grappling with insecurity, youth disaffection, and fragile patriotism, Dr. M. S. Abubakar has offered a serious, courageous, and intellectually responsible work.

It deserves careful reading and thoughtful response at the highest levels of national leadership.

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