By Kingsley Chukwuka
The Nigerian Army will continue to engage in routine training aimed at improving its skills and techniques to better protect law abiding citizens, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 3 Division and Commander Operations Safe Haven (OPSH), Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Ali, has said.
The Army boss said with the continuous increasing rate of kidnapping, banditry and insurgency, the military will not relent in training and retraining of its personnel.
Gen. Ali stated this Thursday, during the closing ceremony of the Division’s Inter-Brigade Combat Proficiency Competition 2022, held at 3 Division, Rukuba Cantonment near Jos.
According to him: “As you are aware, the level of insecurity in the country requires consistent training of our personnel to enable us to secure the lives and property of law-abiding citizens.
“It is worthy to note that this competition was organized with the aim of training subaltern officers for quick response to emerging threats in carrying out our roles in a joint environment with our sister services and other security agencies.
“Even though this is a competition, I hope the lessons learnt would be put into practice in all your assigned duties at your various formations and units”, the Army boss said.
Ali said he hopes that the competition will enhance the spirit of sportsmanship, cooperation and teamwork needed in the accomplishment of missions and tasks among the personnel.
“I will want you to imbibe these cherished traditions in your courses, operations and future deployments”, he said.
He lauded the Plateau State government for providing the enabling environment for the various security operations in the State to thrive, promising that the Joint Task Force will continue to strive to ensure a total restoration of peace in the State.
“Let me use this opportunity to thank the Plateau State Government for giving us the support to discharge our constitutional roles. We assure you that we will do our very best in conjunction with other security and collaborating agencies in ensuring peace in the Plateau.
“This is very key as we continue to engage in the various operations in our respective Joint Operation Areas to completely get rid of all acts of criminalities perpetrated in our dear nation”, he said.
Responding, the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, says his administration will sustain collaboration with various security agencies in the State to ensure Plateau is a safe haven for all citizens.
Represented by his Special Adviser on Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Augustine Agundu (retd), Lalong commended the Nigerian Army for continuously training its personnel to adequately respond to insecurity confronting the country.
He said his administration will not allow the State to go back to the old dark days of incessant crisis.
Our correspondent reports that the inter-brigade competition lasted for four days with personnel competing in Tug of War, Map Reading, Weapon Handling/Endurance and Run/Obstacle Crossing.
The military formations under 3 Division that participated in the 4-day combat proficiency competition are 6 brigade Jalingo, 23 brigade Yola, 33 brigade Bauchi and 3 Division Garrison Jos.
At the end of the competition 3 Division Garrison Jos, scored 950 points to emerge champions of the 2022 inter-brigade competition.