Insecurity: We will not fail Nigerians, says army chief

Faruk Yahaya, chief of army staff (COAS), says the Nigerian Army will not fail in its mandate to keep the country secure.

In a statement by Onyema Nwachukwu, army spokesman, Yahaya said this on Friday while addressing troops in Kotangora, Niger state.

The COAS was attending a “fire power demonstration phase for Exercise Mugun Bugu”.

According to the statement, the army chief said the troops will “defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nation, as well as provide support to civil authority in mitigating threats to national security”.

“Elucidating further, the COAS disclosed that the exercise is the first of its kind, where all combat arms and combat support arms of NA Training Schools come together for a final joint training exercise,” the statement reads.

“Gen Yahaya pointed out that training is key to professionalism, describing it as one of the pillars of his philosophy of command.

“He added that it is only through training that troops could internalise, practise and perfect the employment of skills and competences, along with requisite equipment, communication and other enablers for the effective conduct of operations and discharge of the constitutional mandate of the NA.

“The Army Chief averred that the combined exercise would ensure effective and result-oriented training that would incorporate multimodal training activities aimed at tackling contemporary security challenges, as well as eclipsing threats that may arise in future.

“Gen Yahaya urged the troops to put lessons learnt from the exercise into practice in their respective formations and units, as they tackle threats to national security.”