Segun Babatunde in Bauchi
Nigeria’s Chief Of Army Staff (COAS), Lt- General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has charged soldiers to combine the fire power provided them by the Nigerian army in form of weapons and vehicles with action to combat the insurgents in parts of the north east.
The COAS who gave the charge yesterday in Bauchi during a training of officers and live firing demonstration of newly procured war tanks for the Nigerian army armoured corps called VT4 MBT and ST1 light tanks at Geji firing range Bauchi.
He said that his vision was to have a professional and responsive army in the discharge of constitutional roles emphasising that the vision was intended to ensure seamless connection between the ends, the ways and the means of tackling insecurity as the army continues in safeguarding the nation’s territorial integrity.
According to him, the newly acquired weapons and training will enable the officers exterminate Boko Haram remnants in the region.
“If you go to the field, you must be decisive. You must deal with them when you combine fire power mobility and shock action. The adversaries have no option than to be dealt with accordingly”. He urged the trainees.
The Chief of Army Staff who stated that he was coming from Borno and Yobe states to visit officers under the ‘operation lafiya dole’, said he expects the armoured corps in Bauchi to mobilize to the two states with the purchased vehicles to go and round up the fight against insurgency.
Buratai promised that advanced training will be organised for officers from the electrical and mechanical units of the army so that they could maintain the vehicles properly.
Also speaking, the commander, Armoured Corps, Bauchi, Major General MH Magaji explained that they complied with the directives from the army headquarters by assembling personnels from different army formations and units for trainings.
He appealed to the chief of army staff to construct an access road to the firing range to facilitate easy movements of officers during exercises like that one.
He assured that with those armour fighting vehicles procured, the corps would make Nigeria proud in the course of fighting insurgents in the nation. END
