CHALLENGES IN THE RESETTLEMENT AND REHABILITATION OF WORLD WAR II VETERANS, 1946-1960

Abstract

Soon after the end of the Second World War in 1945, the British Government in London came out with a programme aimed at resettling the British retirees who actively participated in the said war. One of these resettlement Schemes was known as Resettlement and Rehabilitation Programme. Northern Nigeria, for example resettlement centres were established in 1946 and attracted a lot of attention from both the retirees and those soldiers who were in active service. This study sets out to investigate the rationale behind the establishment of the resettlement and rehabilitation programme and furthermore, role played by the retirees in its association. The resettlement, for example, formed by the association of Nigerian Ex-servicemen Welfare Association (NEWA), in order to achieve their set goals. The methodology applied is the qualitative approach in which primary sources including archival materials relevant to the study was used. Again, Annual Reports, personal diaries, correspondences, were also used. Oral interviews were also conducted with resource persons, ex-servicemen, administrators and civilians who had witnessed the activities of the association within the study areas. In which text books, articles in journals and pamphlets were also analysed. The study observed that there was no proper resettlement, rehabilitation and resulted in the poor integration. The findings explicitly show that NEWA depended on charity which the members of the society were unwilling to donate for the sake of the fallen Heroes in spite of appeals by government and traditional rulers. The second World exservicemen still think of being resettled, allocated good land and to have their children employed, educated and supported by government and not always by NEWA which could not solve their welfare needs satisfactorily and these posed serious challenges to their cherished welfare and these challenges formed the bases of discussion in this study.