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Nigeria is one of the countries where it is illegal to wear a military camouflage. Some other countries are Jamaica, Oman, St Lucia, Barbados, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia etc.
I get a lot of messages from young Nigerians complaining about being harassed by soldiers because they wore military camouflage. I totally condemn the harassment by soldiers on people wearing camouflage because the law does not empower them to discipline an offender.
Yes, it is clearly stated in our laws that it is illegal to wear a camouflage or any clothings worn by the military.
Section 110(1), Criminal Code states that it is illegal for non military person to wear the uniform of the armed forces, or any part of the uniform of such forces, or any dress having the appearance or bearing any of the regimental or other distinctive marks of such uniforms.
There are two exceptions. You can wear it if you have the approval from a governor of the president. The other option is if you wear it during an entertainment performance, like in a Nollywood movie or a music video. The penalty for this is 1 month imprisonment or a fine of N10. There are other sections across our laws that back this up.
So the law is clear. Do not wear a camouflage. But does the law make sense? I’m sure some people will argue it does. Many will say it doesn’t. I’m one of those that say it doesn’t and I thought it would make a lot of sense to repeal that law.
Not only is it an archaic law, one major reason why I believe the law has to be repealed is because many soldiers ride on the law to abuse the rights Nigerians.
While I personally think the law should be repealed, I discovered that more Nigerians support the law. I conducted a few polls about the topic and more people want it to remain illegal.
Where do you stand?
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