The Nigerian Army have deployed their first-ever battalion to be wholly manned by Special Forces troops. This came to light after video clips of a range classification exercise which took place recently at the shooting range of the 72 Paratroop Battalion, Makurdi were shown exclusively on Nigerian Television Authority’s network news.
Designated as the “Special Forces Battalion” and stationed at Makurdi, the fact that it has no numeric prefix attached to its name indicates that it is currently the only one of its kind in the Nigerian Army.
The Nigerian Army have since 2000 trained several battalion-sized contingents of Special Forces. The batch of 4,000 troops batched into five battalions where trained in-country by a 225-man contingent drawn from the 3rd Special Forces Group , Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States of America.
The Nigerian Army commenced military training cooperation with the US Special Forces nearly a quarter of a century ago. Between 8 May 1986 and 23 December 1986, C Company , 3rd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group trained the core of the Nigerian Army’s Airborne forces. They also trained amphibious forces in in riverine operations, tactics, maintenance and patrols.
Until now, detachments of Special Forces troops who have already been in action in the Niger Delta, the Bakassi Peninsula, the Mandara Mountains and during the Boko Haram insurgency have hitherto operated as company-sized contingents integrated into amphibious and other infantry battalions.
This first-ever wholly Special Forces battalion has Colonel Adebola Adefarati as its Commanding Officer.
Beegeagle's Blog 
“The Nigerian Army have since 2000 trained several battalion-sized contingents of Special Forces. The batch of 4,000 troops batched into five battalions where trained in-country by a 225-man contingent drawn from the 3rd Special Forces Group , Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States of America.”
NAVAL UNIT WHERE WOMEN ARE NOT WELCOME
Written by Prince General Dec 25, 2009 Naval unit where women are not welcome
By PHILIP NWOSU
Friday, December 25, 2009
The Nigerian Navy Special Boat Service (SBS) is gender insensitive and the commanders are not hiding it. Indeed, in this special naval service, women are not welcome at all. Only men of valour could serve in the SBS.
The only word that could best describe the unit is that it is a virile force modelled alongside similar units in the Royal Navy.
The Special Boat Service is the Special Forces unit of the Nigerian Navy which was established when Vice Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye was Chief of Naval Staff.
The roles of the Special Boat Services are predominantly focused on, but not restricted to, littoral and riverine operations, including Reconnaissance and Surveillance, Covert beach reconnaissance (hydrographic survey) in advance of an amphibious assault, recovery or protection of ships and oil installations subject to hostile state or non-state action, Maritime Counter-Terrorism and offensive Action.
With the constant attack on Nigeria’s oil facility by militants in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian Navy believes that the military answer is the creation of a Special Boat Service to defeat the militants.
The unit is just one year old and already it has trained over 100 naval personnel in reconnaissance and surveillance, covert beach reconnaissance in advance of an amphibious assault and recovery and protection of ships and oil installations subject to terrorist action.
At the recent graduation of 27 naval personnel trained as members of the group to fight terrorism, the Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Navy Special Boat Service (NNSBS) Navy Captain Apochi Suleiman, said the unit has trained the personnel to be filled with vigour and energy.
The naval personnel made up of four officers and 23 ratings were trained in various aspects of anti-terrorist combat for 20 months at the Special Boat Section base inside the naval facility in Lagos.
To show that they have been trained to confront any obstacle, the group staged a mock war within the premises which it tagged “beaching and combat march demonstration.”
The mock war featured a demonstration of what beaching was. The demonstration portrayed a unit of the Special Boat Service in a confrontation with some group of rebels who had laid in ambush for it.
The unit was able through some of the combat manoeuvres they have been taught at the SBS to overcome the rebel outfit after which it embarked on a combat march which was organized to show strength.
Speaking with Daily Sun at the graduation ceremony, the Commanding Officer of the Special Boat Section, Navy Captain Apochi Suleiman, said the force is specially trained to carry out multi-dimensional operations particularly on land, sea and air.
Suleiman said that the qualities required of persons called up to be members of the unit include basic naval medical standard, good sight, must be a good swimmer and must meet naval physical capabilities requirement.
Intakes, he said, must be able to embark on 42 press-up exercises under two minutes and be able to run 3.2kilometres under 15minutes
He said that the creation of this special group within the Nigerian Navy became necessary following the incessant attacks on Federal Government facilities in the protection of the Nigerian Navy.
He said operatives of the SBS would, after graduation, be deployed to all operational areas of the Nigerian Navy, explaining that since the outfit was created, nine officers and 101 ratings have passed through its rigorous training.
The outfit was fashioned after the United States Navy Seal, the Royal Navy Special Boat Service and the Indian Maritime Commando.
Captain Suleiman told Daily Sun that the group will support Nigerian Navy’s effort in counter-terrorism, anti piracy and search and rescue operations.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony, the Flag Officer Commanding Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC) Rear Admiral Ekwere Udoh Ekwere advised the graduating personnel to put in their best in uplifting naval operations.
Admiral Ekwere who was represented by the Chief Staff Officer of the Command, Commodore O.B Ogunjimi, urged them to make personal effort at getting themselves in better shape.
He enjoined them to ensure that discipline becomes their watchword and also work towards obeying rules of the country as spelt out by the Federal Government.
Thank you. Have you looked through my thread “FOTORAMA:THE NIGERIAN ARMED FORCES?”. In that thread which I opened on Cybereagles, we reported about the SBS at the time of the raging conflict in Gbaramatu Kingdom in the Niger Delta. Photos which I saw in “”This Day” showed some of the heavily moustachioed SBS men in gunboats. They had distinctive headgears on which were labelled “Special Boat Squadron”.
..this comes from the Daily Sun
wow,i think its good that the nigerian army is developing a special forces component.my only hope is that it dosent go on to become like other ”special forces” trained by the u.u,ala nicaragua,el salvador,savak.
Im so glad that we now have such a unit in the military.Such units are indispensable in modern warfare.My fear is that politicians might use the guys in the unit for intimidation and assasination of members of opposition groups.
As a member of the Special boat Service,which is the special force of the Nigerian navy.I am determined to go beyond just the ordinary imagination of what you might expect of a special force personnel.
as someone who has always dreamed of a professional Nigerian Army i am wholly proud and immensely happy in the strides taken to proffesionalise the Nigerian Army. ilove this, my only regret is i am unfit for military service or i would have been a part of this……….Go Naija
The Nigerian Special Forces should be open to recruit the the best and the fittest of Nigeria’s 150,000 people. That would put it at per with the U.S Navy Seals and The British S.A.S. Fitness Endurance and Alertness should override the quoter system. Our boys should be as hard as nails.
I am proud being a member of the 72 Special Forces Battalion the wholly elite body of professional soldiers in Nigeria whose function range from training of non special forces personnel in high stamina level on counterterrorism,counter insurgency,special body guard sarvice/VIP protection,rescue of hostages,search and destroy OPs (SADO), combat life saver, jungle warfare/living off d land, mountain warfare/hill walking and matching techniques,rapelling and abcelling,combat jumps etc.
The unique need for mrdern facilities/equipment for the unit to excel in its operational model. Cherished.
Well done, Mohammed. You guys are in form. Same thing goes for the crack Navy Special Boat Service.
Sustain the effort and stay focused. We feel the impact of your activities.
Stay safe, brother.
shut up your mouth…..you are already talking too much…we are in a war situation…or weren’t you properly trained…what kind of soldier are you..if at all you are?
Hey partner (@uzezi), I am late in reading your post. However,you should stop trying to muzzle, or shut up people trying to share information with the rest of us. HABA.!!
There is nothing classified or top secret in the training regimen @Mohammed Tukur shared with the blog.
This type of unclassified information is on tv channels, across the globe.
mr beegeagle, ill like it if you put up more posts on activities of the army special forces…thank you
Glory be to God almighty, I’m very proud to be one of nigerian army special forces. ONE MAN ONE BULLET. God bless Nigeria@
Well well, what had long been overdue is finally here, spec ops components of nigerian military. i have to say that please let’s look at the weapons systems and equipments we give our men to do their jobs. first i want to comment on the rifleman weapon. the AK47 carried is becoming obsolete as there are better rifle systems around to name a few H&K, Tavor, Shrike, MP5. secondly, i know it might be for display purpose but a night vision aid in daylight do not denote good orientation of equipment as seen on our new army special forces group. let’s take a cue from the department of state security in their recent replacement of the old Uzi SMG with the Tavor system.
Also, there poeple like me who can contribute immensely to the growth of special forces capabilities of our forces by wy of consultancy, please bear us in mind as we have a lot to contribute.
Thanks
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