Atlantic Council Africa Center Director Peter Pham said the soldier's account could have merit.
"It certainly would not surprise me that it is happening," said Pham.Pham said the goal should be to figure out how and why collaboration between military officers and terror groups could happen.
"What’s critical is to understand, if there is this collusion, to understand whether it is a collusion born of corruption, born of desperation simply to avoid combat that would result in casualties for the men under your command, or if it is born of ideological sympathy with the insurgents," he said.
Apart from some well-trained elite units, Pham said most of Nigeria's military is "woefully underfunded and under-resourced" in terms of equipment and training.
Effects of "systemic corruption"
E.J. Hogendoorn is deputy director of the International Crisis Group's Africa program. The group recently released a detailed report about the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.
He said Nigeria's military disfunction is part of a broader problem of systemic corruption extending through most government sectors.
Hogendoorn says "drivers," such as bad governance and the inability of state institutions to provide basic services, help create a pool of unemployed youth "ripe for radicalization."
"We argue that even were Boko Haram to be defeated, if you don’t deal with those drivers, you are not going to be able to stabilize either northern Nigeria or the entire country," he said.
Hogendoorn said in order for change to occur, the Nigerian government needs to address corruption and poor governance in a systematic and sustained way.
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