FG To Device New Strategies For Fighting Terrorism

BEVERLY HILLS, December 08, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday restated his resolve to develop new strategies that will spell an end to the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency confronting the nation.

Buhari, who made this known at the Chief of Army Staff annual conference 2015 taking place in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, observed that the threat of terrorism in some parts of the country remains an issue of serious national concern despite the achievements recorded by the Nigerian Army intellectuals.

Represented at the conference themed: “Contemporary Conflict, Human Rights and Military Operations,” by the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. General Gabriel Abayomi, the President stressed that the threat of terrorism has the potential of impeding the government's change drive.

He posited that the recent achievements of the security agencies in the fight against terrorism underscored his earlier position that the Boko Haram threat will soon be a thing of the past, adding that the military achievement “has shown that the Nigerian Army has been working assiduously to implement and carry out my directives to rout the insurgents by the end of this year.”

While noting that the conference will greatly create a sense of peace and belongings to the people of the region, the President stressed that the reform process within the Nigerian Army has not only enhance service, discipline, functional capacity and operational readiness, but properly positioned the service for its role as a critical stakeholder in the nation's quest for peace and stability.

In his address of welcome, the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai explained that the annual conference is a forum for re-assessing the performances of the Nigerian Army for the year in order to rededicate it to the challenges of new year.

He stressed that the annual conference also affords the Nigerian Army hierarchy the opportunity to rub minds with the public and the private sectors, the academicians especially in view of the contemporary security challenges in the country.

The COAS explained that the security challenges witnessed in the country in the area of Boko Haram insurgency has posed a serious threat to national security, adding that “this has placed great demands on the Nigerian Army which has not relented in living up to the expectations of the nation's citizenry.”