Army trains 2,000 soldiers to combat terrorism

Posted by admin Armed Forces, Boko Haram, Latest Politics Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

THE Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General Azubuike Ihejirika, on Tuesday, in Abuja, said 2,000 soldiers were being trained in Jaji and Kachia on counter-terrorism to combat security challenges.

Ihejirika stated this at the two-day Nigerian Army (NA) Transformation Stakeholders Conference, with the “theme: Enhancing the Implementation Strategy for Nigerian Army Transformation.”

He said the training was one of the innovations of the army to combat the present security challenges facing the country.

“The army believes strongly that once human capacity is developed to the required level, every other thing will fall in place,” he said.

According to the Army Chief, the Nigerian Army had also set up Monitoring Force to move from place to place to ensure that soldiers do their jobs professionally.

Ihejirika explained that any complaint arising from the performance of a soldier was usually investigated promptly

He noted that there was no reason whatsoever for soldiers deployed either on the highway or in any part of the country to take any form of bribe because they were paid allowances.

On the issue of the use of army uniform by criminals to commit crimes, Ihejirika explained that the army did not have control over military uniform because of the way such uniform was being smuggled into the country.

“Apart from porous borders, the army is not also at the port to ensure that such things do not come.”

“As I stand here, I have given instructions out to compel officers to surrender themselves for searches, because it is by doing so they will encourage soldiers to search anybody no matter how dressed.”

Ihejirika said the army required cooperation from the public in this regard as many people did not want to be searched, so “I appeal to all to give themselves up to be searched,” he said.

He said the conference, which is part of the Nigerian Army transformation agenda, was made up of representatives of units of the army, so the expectation from the conference was high.

He urged the participants to frankly make contributions that would assist the army to achieve its aim.

In his welcome address, Brigadier-General Peter Bojie, Director, Nigerian Army Transformation, said the conference would focus on the review the army transformation agenda and measure the impact on the progress made.

Bojie explained that emphasis would be on the various stakeholders’ briefs and their transformation activities and oversight function.

He said an appraisal of the short and medium term goals to identify achievements and pending issues would be carried out.

“Anticipated future plans for the Nigerian Army transformation at the end of 2015 will be considered. As it is hoped that at the end of the conference, appropriate strategy will be evolved to translate the Chief of Army Staff vision into practical and visible realities,” he said.

-Tribunewp_posts