Waliu Ismaila is a historian of colonial Africa whose work interrogates the relationship between military service, welfare, and state power. His research focuses on Nigerian World War II veterans and the political struggles that shaped their postwar lives.
His forthcoming book, ‘The Paradox of Welfare: The Military, Postwar Life, and the End of Empire in Nigeria’, reframes veterans as a distinct social welfare group—one that both challenged and negotiated with the colonial state in the pursuit of pensions, employment, and recognition.
At a time when Nigeria is reconsidering military pay and welfare policy, Dr Ismaila’s work offers a critical historical lens on a persistent question: what does the state owe those who serve—and what happens when those obligations fall short?
Nigeria’s recent wage increase for members of the armed forces has been widely welcomed as a necessary intervention at a time of rising living costs and sustained security pressures. Yet
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