As part of efforts to route out Boko Haram terrorists completely from Nigeria by December, 2015, the Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Turkur Buratai, has said he will continue to generate modern strategies in order to provide support for its troops, especially in the North-East.
Buratai, who spoke on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of the 17th Combat Service Support Training Week held at Nigerian Army School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering in Auchi, Edo State, noted that such tactics would include equipment and technical manpower.
He explained that the army was currently faced with the dearth of spare parts technicians for its newly acquired equipment, which he said were procured through “haphazard means.”
He, however, stated that efforts were ongoing to address the issue, in line with the Public Procurement Act.
Burutai, who was represented by Maj. Gen. S. Muazu, added that, “I have already set up the Nigerian Army Procurement Committee and the Directorate of Army Procurement in the Army Headquartres.
“Let me assure you that efforts are on to get the requisite spare parts for the newly acquired equipment and also train our personnel on effective equipment maintenance up to Fourth Line Level of repairs.
The army chief also noted that the theme of the workshop was timely in making one of its major operations, Op LAFIYA DOLE, highly mobile, “while taking the fight to the terrorists in their hideouts.”
In view of what he described as the worrisome “unconventional tactics” used by the Boko Haram insurgents, the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, urged the army to sustain the provision of essential materials and health services to the troops in the various flash points, through the service support corps.
Oshiomhole, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Pius Odubu, however, commended the military for its current success in major parts of the North-East as well as its role in checking various forms of crime in the state.
He said, “Right now, the Boko Haram sect has taken to unconventional tactics, through the use of suicide bombing to inflict harm, kill innocent and defenceless citizens and instill fear.
“In order to defeat them, it is imperative that new tactics and strategies must be evolved by the army and other sister security agencies.”
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