Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Azubuike Ihejirika, has said 2,000 soldiers are undergoing terrorism training in Jaji and Kachia to combat the security challenges facing the country.
Ihejirika, at a two-day Nigerian Army Transformation Stakeholders Conference, with the theme ‘Enhancing the Implementation Strategy for Nigerian Army Transformation’ said the training would help the Army to respond to violence in parts of the country.
The Army Chief, who also spoke on the increasing use of Army uniform for criminal activities, said the Army had no control over the movement of the uniform into the country.
He said the Army was not at the seaport aside the borders in the country, to play a role in the prevention of the uniforms from coming into the country.
He said, “Apart from porous borders, the Army is not also at the port to ensure that such things do not come.
“As I stand here, I have given instructions to compel officers to give themselves for searching because it is by doing so they will encourage soldiers to search anybody no matter how well dressed.”
Meanwhile, former opposition leader in Rivers State, Mr. Tonye Princewill, has called on the Federal Government to form an alliance with foreign governments to combat Boko Haram and other security challenges.
Princewill said such step was necessary in order to stamp out the activities of the sect that had been involved in wanton destruction of lives and property.
The former leader and governorship candidate for the Action Congress of Nigeria, who spoke in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, argued that any collaboration with foreign governments in the area security was acceptable if it would not compromise Nigeria’s sovereignty.