The Nigerian military and other para-military organisation are to collaborate in a joint effort to arrest the Boko Haram menace bedeviling the nation.
The Commandant, Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Air Vice Marshal John Chris Ifemeji disclosed this yesterday, while declaring open a joint training exercise for the military and paramilitary at the Jaji Cantonment, Kaduna.
AVM Ifemeji stated that the exercise tagged “Haske Biyu 2014” is designed to forge a durable relationship among all the stakeholders and to identify workable strategies and operational concepts towards improving the security of the nation, with regards to insurgencies and other terrorist activities.
The Commandant, who described exercise Haske Biyu as apt and timely, said the exercise was to broaden participants’ knowledge and understanding of military operations other than war with emphasis on internal security and counter insurgency operations.
According to him, “It will provide a platform for the cross fertilization of ideas thereby allowing all stake holders of the national security architecture to cooperate and collaborate for the development of sustainable crisis/conflict resolution and management mechanisms”.
Earlier in his welcome address, Director Department of Joint Studies, Brigadier General, Benjamin Ahanotu said the exercise is borne out of the need that the changing nature of the security threats in the country presupposes that a multi-agency approach would work in the fight against the insurgency.
Meanwhile, the 4-week exercise has a total of 249 participants, with 149 as military while the remaining 100 were from the para-military, which includes Nigerian Prisons, Customs, Immigration, Civil Defence, Road Safety and the media among others.
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