By OKOSUN DENNIS
The Nigerian Army said on Monday that every village destroyed by Boko Haram will soon be reconstructed.
The General Officer Commanding 81 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj Gen Isidore Edet said towards realising that it is gradually moving into the phase of rebuilding the destruction where troops had engaged Boko Haram insurgents since 2011.
General Edet spoke while addressing returning peacekeepers from Darfur Sudan at the 65 Battalion parade ground in Lagos.
He said that Boko Haram has to be defeated to set the condition for the next phase of the counter insurgency campaign, adding that the next phase of the counter insurgency operation is the phase of rebuilding the villages.
The GOC explained that the insurgents have been seriously degraded to the point that they can no longer attacks troops locations and villages and towns in the North East.
While listing the three stages to the counter insurgency operations as; the stages of rooting out the insurgents, holding the ground and rebuilding the area, added that the military is gradually transiting from the stages of rooting out the insurgents and holding the ground to the stage of rebuilding the devastated villages.
He enjoins the returning soldiers to key into the change agenda of the present government and apply the Nigerian Army core values which will help transform them into changed agents.
Welcoming the 796 officers and soldiers, Gen Edet reiterated that the Federal Government is currently implementing the change agenda and that they should apply the loyalty, integrity, discipline, respect for others and courage which are the core value of the force.
He commended the troops for their success in Dafur, but urged them to brace up for more tasking assignment in Nigeria, especially as some of them would be deployed to the North East to assist in quelling the Boko Haram insurgents.
While explaining that the Federal government and some Non Governmental Organisations would be involve in the rebuilding stage, General Edet said that the officers and men that their expertise would be required in that area.
Throughout the period they spent in Sudan, the troops known as Nigerian Battalion (NIBATT) 44 comprising of 796 soldiers did not lose any member of the troops in battle.