Military to recapture all territories in North-East, says Army Chief

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, has said the military will soon recapture all territories in the north-east which were under the control of the Boko Haram sect.

He gave the assurance on Tuesday during a training seminar for army officials held at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji in Kaduna State.

The training in collaboration with the British military advisory and training team was part of the ongoing war against the Boko Haram terrorists in the north-east.

Addressing the officers at the event, Lt. General Minimah stresses the need for continuous training and re-training of army personnel for them to be able to tackle the current security challenges facing the nation.

He said the Nigerian army had in the last one year embarked on intensive   individual and group training of personnel within and outside the country.

'Such initiative is already yielding positive result with the recent onslaught against the Boko Haram insurgents in the north-east.

'Over 600 army officers have so far been trained from a range of specialist courses at different military institutions abroad, while new military equipment have been acquired to boost the fighting capacity of security forces in line with current trend,' Lt. General Minimah said.

Over 100 officers drawn from the various army divisions and units attended the seminar.

Commanding Officers and Brigade Commander are part of those attending the five-day seminar which is focusing on capacity building and development in three areas - intelligence and analysis, operational capacity building and force sustenance.

These areas, according to the organisers of the seminar, are critical in the effort by the Nigerian Army to defeat the current security challenges.

For over 35 years, the British Military Advisory and Training Team has assisted Nigeria in the capacity building of its military forces in the areas of tactics, but the seminar is focusing on operation development of the officers.

It is aimed at making the Nigerian Army a professional force.

According to the army boss, such collaboration is already yielding good result.

Head of the British Military Advisory Council, Brigadier General Jonny Bourne, gave an insight on the contributions of his country in capacity building of Nigerian military personnel, expressing confidence that such training and collaboration in some key areas will assist Nigeria to overcome the current security challenges.