Theatre Commander of military operations in the northeast, General Rogers Nicholas, said Wednesday that the Army has begun a comprehensive rotation exercise of about 3,000 troops deployed in the campaign against Boko Haram.
Nicholas, in charge of the counterterror Operation Lafiya Dole, made the disclosure in Maiduguri, explaining that the move was taken by Army Headquarters as a morale boost to troops, and to enhance operations.
“The Chief of Army Staff has graciously considered that and gave us men to do rotation,” Nicholas said.
“This is the first batch of soldiers that are being rotated. About 1,500 of them will be leaving today and in the next few days another 1,000 or plus will also leave, we are rotating about 3,000 soldiers from OPERATION LAFIYA DOLE.
“It is going to be an ongoing exercise as the operation continues we will exercise rotation to make sure that most of our troops that stayed long would be re-joining their units and families”.
He further said that military authorities would ensure the prompt payment of outstanding allowances to the troops.
Nicholas called on his men to use the leave period to stay with their families.
Warrant Officer Francis Adama and Sergeant Adederan Akanbi, applauded the gesture, saying it would allow soldier reunite with their families after four long years of their tour of duty.