NIGERIAN ARMY REITERATES COMMITMENT TO TACKLE TERRORISM; SET UP CT-COIN AND ADVANCED RECRUIT TRAINING DEPTS, TRAIN 40 K9 TEAM TRAINERS

LEADERSHIP
Fri, 25/05/2012

The Nigerian Army on Friday said it was
committed to tackling security challenges facing the country. The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Onyeabo
Ihejirika said this when he paid an
official visit to Amb. Oluwatoyin Lawal,
the Acting Nigerian High Commissioner
to the UK, in London.

“We are building capacity of our personnel to be able to meet the current
security challenges not just in Nigeria but also to have capacity to assist our
neighbours particularly in the West
African sub-region and Africa,’’ Ihejirika said. He explained that in order to win this `war’, the Nigerian Army has put in place series of reforms including the expansion of its training centre, which was previously a training ground dedicated to conventional warfare exercises.

He said it has also introduced a department of counter-terrorism and
counter insurgency; and a department for advanced recruit training. Ihejirika said a Civil-Military relations department has been established in recognition of the fact that the current security challenges differed from the conventional warfare which it was used
to.

He said a War Dog Department has also
been established in recognition of the
relevance of the use of dogs particularly
to detect illegal drugs. “Currently, we have a school at about 90 per cent completion in Lagos with the capacity to train 50 dogs, another unit in Abuja and we intend to spread this across the country. “We have trained about 40 personnel on dog handling in the U.S while some are currently undergoing training outside the country,’’ he said.

Ihejirika said he was optimistic that the
military was capable of transforming into a better force, able to meet contemporary challenges in line with the federal government’s transformation agenda.

Earlier, Lawal commended the military for its significant role in maintaining peace and security in the country. He said the Nigerian Army remained one
of the key players in global peacekeeping operations adding that its commitment “can never be over-emphasised”.