By; Isaac Odeh, Kaduna.
The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador James Entwistle, has assured his country’s support in fighting terrorism in Nigeria especially Boko Haram.
He gave the assurance during the United States of America Training Assistance to selected units 0f the Nigerian Army at Infantry Corps and Centre, Jaji, Kaduna.
He added that the US was ready to partner with Nigeria in the area of training and retraining of its Armed Forces to meet the required standard to fight against terrorism in the country.
Earlier, the Special Guest of Honour, the Chief of Defence Staff at the inauguration ceremony of the training assistance pointed out that the bilateral relationship between the United States of America and Nigeria existed since Nigeria’s Independence.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin also said that this partnership had continued to improve in many important areas, one of which is in the security realm, adding that the excellent relationship had led to several joint initiatives one of which is the commitment of the United States and her military to assist Nigeria in
professionalizing the security forces.
He therefore commended the efforts of the US Armed Forces in the conduct of previous training and capacity development programme for the Nigerian Armed Forces to improve its capacity in addressing the security challenges in the country.
The Chief of Defence Staff however urged the officers and soldiers of the battalion to make maximum use of the unique training opportunities to improve on their skills and capacities with the consciousness of the possible range of tasks that the battalion would be given.
He said that was the only way to justify the enormous efforts and resources committed by both the Nigerian and the American governments in organizing and implementing the training programme.
Also speaking the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai appealed to the officers and soldiers to work hard towards achieving the goals of the training.
He said he had the confidence with the UN training team with the support of the Commandant and the instructors of Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI).
He assured them of the federal government resolved and indeed its continued commitment towards providing better platform, logistic and welfare to the Nigerian Army, stressing that the gains made so far in the ingoing fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the North East and efforts to restore normalcy to all liberated territories cannot be over
emphasized.
The Army Chief further disclosed that the renewed onslaught
against the terrorist group by the combined forces of the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Air Force in the past months had seriously degraded the capacities of the terrorists, pointing out that it required the bold action from the Nigerian troops to hold liberated territories and consolidate on the success already attained.
