Take The Battle To Boko Haram’s Doorstep, Army Chief Charges Soldiers

Chief of Army Staff, Major General Tukur Buratai, has charged officers and men of the Nigerian army to take the war against insurgency to the doorstep of Boko Haram sect, with a view to dislodging them from their stronghold.
This is even as he said that the era of waiting in defensive positions for the “criminals” to come and attack and runaway must stop. The Army Chief stated this in Kaduna yesterday, at the graduation ceremony of Nigerian Battalion 37, United Nations Mission in Liberia, UNMIL, pre-deployment training.
At the event, which held at the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre (NAPKC) and the combined graduation of basic airborne course 37 and basic rigger course 23 of the Airborne wing of the Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI), Jaji Cantonment, the army boss also challenged the troops to adopt offensive disposition and respond quickly and appropriately to all situations.

General Buratai further said that the army has all necessary wherewithal to tackle the country’s internal problems and that it was on top of situation in the North East, adding that his vision for the Nigerian Army was to have a professional responsiveness in the discharge of its constitutional roles.

“The cardinals of this vision are professionalism and responsiveness. In line with these, we must learn to adopt offensive disposition and respond quickly and appropriately to all situations taking into cognisance, our rules of engagement. The era of waiting in defensive positions for criminals to come and attack and runway must stop. We must take the battle to them and dislodge them wherever they are. I therefore want you to show your commitment to this vision.

“The Nigerian Army will not accept any situation where its troops are seen as soft targets or conducting themselves in unprofessional manner such as trafficking in illicit substances of any kind including alcohol and drugs as these practices negates United Nations ethics.

“I must also remind you of the United Nations zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse. The Nigerian Army and indeed nigerian government will not tolerate the contravention of this policies and directives. Be reminded to work within the rules of engagement of the mission.

“Additionally, you must respect the cultural and religious sensitivity of the people of Liberia. You must exhibit the highest sense of person/ environmental hygiene as Liberia is just emerging from Ebola epidemic,” Maj. Gen. Buratai said.

Earlier, the Commandant NAPKC, Maj. Gen. Imomitimi Birigeni said he has had confidence that the high level of enthusiasm and cohesion exhibited by the soldiers would reflect on their conduct in theatre of operation. He charged them to work hard to improve on the skills they have learnt while on training as it remains the sine qua non for success as a unit.

Commandant NASI, Maj. Gen. Kassim Abdulkarim said the training institution was faced with challenges ranging from debilitating infrastructure, deplorable condition of apparatus in Air borne wing, poor and obsolete training aids and inadequate manpower to mention but a few. These challenges, the Commandant noted, have not helped for enhanced optimal performance of the institution that could give high morale.