I wanted to be civil engineer not soldier — IBB

• He disclosed that his life’s trajectory was altered by the conscription order issued by the then government of the Northern region

Former Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, IBB, has opened up on his childhood dream and aspiration.

Babangida said his plan and goal early on in life wasn’t to join the military but was to become a civil engineer.

He disclosed that his life’s trajectory was altered by the conscription order issued by the then government of the Northern region.

Babangida made the disclosure in a live radio programme anchored by the Federal University of Technology, FUT, Minna campus radio, ‘Search FM’, on Saturday morning.

He said that the decision of the then government of Northern Nigeria that youths of his time should be enlisted into the Nigerian army changed the course of his destiny.

Babangida said on completion of primary education, he went to Bida Provincial Secondary School and, after six years, joined the Military Training College, Kaduna, almost immediately.

Responding to how joining the military shaped the rest of his life and what informed his decision to enlist as cadet officer, IBB said: “Well, maybe to understand the background, at about that period there was a deliberate government policy.

“At that time there were not a lot of people from the North who were in the military. So it took a deliberate policy to go around and invite the younger generation from secondary schools, (government colleges) to come and join the military. And that’s what started our career in the military.”

“I wanted to be a civil engineer”, Babangida replied when asked what he would have become if the deliberate policy by the northern government did not alter his plans.