Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, yesterday told officers and men of the Nigerian Army to be in 'war mood' to enable them contain the Boko Haram insurgency.Speaking in Kaduna at the opening of a workshop for commanding officers of Army formations, Ihejirika said personnel must be working at every moment towards tackling the uprising.'It is high time for you and your men to be in war mood to be able to deal with the current challenges,' he said.'Otherwise, how do you explain that troops on check-point duty would be attacked by these (people)' And they sometimes do that and get away with it. This is an area you must work on.'The workshop is being held with the theme: 'Enhancing Military Professionalism in the Nigerian Army to Meet Contemporary Challenges'.Ihejirika urged Army's commanding officers to come up with innovative ideas of facing security issues.'As you are out in the field, at every point in time, make sure you are either conducting an operation or you are gathering intelligence,' he said.'You must be doing any of the two at any point in time. If your area is too quiet, you have a reason to get worried.'We believe that how your troops perform is a direct reflection of the qualities of their Commanding Officers. That is why you are assembled here for the next four days to brainstorm on matters of service interest in order to improve and sharpen your professional skills.'We chose 1 Division to underscore the importance of the current operation of 1 and 3 Divisions troops. I'm happy to note the numerous achievements of the Divisions since the first bomb attack of this headquarters and the attacks on Kano. But you will all agree with me that a lot still needs to be done to make our society secure.'Let me stress that the challenges combating the nation and indeed the Army are well known to all of us. The constitutional provision and the directive of Mr. President and Commander in Chief of Armed Forces for the Nigerian Army to work with other civil authorities to secure every part of this country are also well known.'He said the theme of the workshop was chosen to remind the officers of the importance of military professionalism in dealing with challenges facing the nation and the world at large, especially terrorism, small arms proliferation and related crimes.Ihejirika assured that the Army authorities would continue to support the welfare of officers and men.'I want to state here that the Army is likely to have a better deal within this budget year than we had in the past. So, I can see a lot more barracks being repaired and a lot more equipment being put back into service,' he said.'On the 19th of this month, we will be commissioning about 14 boats that have been recovered and refurbished for the use of our troops in the Niger Delta area.'The Army chief said the second batch of trainees on the use of dogs in the fight against terrorism have just completed their training and will soon be launched to reinforce the existing troops.'Let me therefore commend your efforts so far, as the North-West and North-East zones of the country are beginning to see some respite from terrorist activities.'But nearly is not good enough as we must ensure that the citizens are more secured and safe and living peacefully in locations of their choice. So, there is a lot of room for us to train harder and harder to improve on our performance,' he said.Earlier, the General Officer Commanding, 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Garba Wahab, said the participants were selected for the workshop in view of the security challenges in their areas.
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