The United States of America has deployed a team of military personnel who arrived Nigeria on Wednesday to train a battalion of Nigerian Army officers and soldiers on counter-terrorism and insurgency operations.
Speaking at the commencement of the training at the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State on Wednesday, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Enwistle, stressed the need for countries within the Lake Chad Basin to continue to work together in the fight against terrorism and insurgency within the region.
He stated that with the ongoing partnership between United States and Nigerian military in the areas of training of officers and soldiers, the war against the Boko Haram terrorists in the northeast was already yielding tremendous result as the insurgents had been largely defeated.
The US Ambassador also tasked the Nigerian government on improving the socio-economic development of the northeast that had been ravaged by Boko Haram attacks in order to secure a long term stability of the region.
On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Owonishakin, said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was determined to ensure that the Nigerian Armed Forces were adequately equipped to enable personnel fight terrorism and other security challenges confronting the nation.
He explained that the partnership between the US military and Nigeria’s Armed Forces was borne out of the commitment of the present administration in waging war against global terrorism and violent extremism.
General Owonishakin, however, urged the participants to use the training opportunity to improve their military skills and capacity.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, reminded the participants of the enormous security challenges facing Nigeria and the need for them to adapt with the new tactics to deal with the situation.
He also reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Army towards strict observance of human rights and international humanitarian laws in the ongoing military effort to liberate the northeast from the Boko Haram terrorists.
The training which would last for 12 weeks, is designed to be conducted in three phases for troops of the 145 Battalion.
