From: Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Nigerian Army said it has concluded arrangements to train a total of 3,000 personnel of the Nigerian Police force and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The personnel, when fully trained, would be deployed for security duties at Bama, in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State, to complement the Nigerian Army/Federal Government Bama Initiative.
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, who made this known at the just concluded COAS Second and Third Quarter Training Week held, in Abuja, said that the police and civil defence personnel would be trained at the Nigerian Army School of Special Forces, Buni-Yadi, Yobe State.
Gen. Buratai, while noting that the training would go a long way to relieve army personnel from routine security duties at Bama, maintained that with the 3,000 personnel on ground, soldiers deployed for the counter-insurgency operations would be able to effectively combat members the Boko Haram terrorists group in the hinterlands.
He said that combining internal security duties and at the same time engaging the terrorists in fierce battles, have not been easy for troops, who were over-stretched. He aded that with the security personnel in place, the army would wipe out the terrorists in no distance time.
According to him, “To compliment the efforts of the Nigerian army, the BAMA initiative is being launched by the Federal Government. The initiative is for the NA to train 3,000 personnel of the Police and Civil Defence Corps that would be deployed for the security of BAMA and its environs.
“The Nigerian Army is to train the personnel at the NASFS Buni Yadi. This arrangement is intended to relief the NA personnel from the security duties in Bama LGA to enable them to effectively face the Boko Haram Terrorists in the hinter lands”.
The Army chief, who also said the tactics and approach to the counte-insurgency war was being re-appraised especially in the area of mobility in the desert terrain, said the Mobile Strike Teams (MSTs) was created to dominate the entire theatre of operation with a view to deny the terrorists freedom of action.
He said the unit which was now fully operational and equipped with powerful motorcycles to outpace the terrorists during pursuit has been fully incorporated into the Nigerian Army Order Of Battle 2016.
The army chief who said the activities of the unit had yielded positive results, saying, “It is expected that the MSTs supported by the MC Bn would make the -theatre quite untenable for the Boko Haram Terrorists.”