…Sues for sustained collaboration
The Benue State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, has commended the Nigerian Army for its continued support in the fight against insecurity.
Governor Alia gave the commendation Thursday, when he received the Chief Of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, who led other senior officers of the Nigerian Army to pay a courtesy call on him at Government House, Makurdi.
The Governor recalled that when he assumed office, out of the twenty three local government areas of the state, seventeen were in the frontline of insecurity, a number he noted has reduced to three, a feat he attributed to the concerted efforts of the Nigerian Army in collaboration with other security formations in the state.
Governor Alia who restated his administration’s commitment to ensuring security of lives and property of the people, highlighted his recent visit to Taraba State where he held discussions with Governor Agbu Kefas with the sole aim of strengthening inter-state collaboration to tackle insecurity along their shared borders.
He further described security personnel as partners and sued for the support of members of the various communities to enable them function effectively.
Speaking earlier, the Chief Of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Shaibu said he was in the state on an official assignment and deemed it necessary to pay a courtesy visit to the Governor as a mark of respect.
According to the COAS, being in Benue was more like a home coming for him having spent part of his formative years in Makurdi.
He further explained that his official engagements in the state included operational visits to the headquarters of Joint Task Force Operation Whirl Stroke as well as the 401 Special Brigade among other formations to assess operational readiness of troops with the aim of addressing challenges and resolving same for better output.
Lieutenant General Shaibu, disclosed that as part of the Nigerian Army’s commitment to national security,
an additional battalion was recently deployed to Kwande Local Government Area to strengthen ongoing operations adding that apart from kinetic approaches, the Army is also adopting non-kinetic strategies by engaging traditional rulers citing his recent visit to the Tor Tiv as one of such moves which he said was geared towards improving community cooperation especially in the area of intelligence gathering.
While thanking Governor Alia for his support to families of fallen heroes, the Chief Of Army Staff also commended him for always providing logistics support to troops with operational assets including drones, motorcycles, and Hilux vans.
Meanwhile, the Chief Of Army Staff during the visit also disclosed that Nigeria’s President and Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the recruitment of about twenty eight thousand troops who will be trained, organised into batallions and subsequently deployed accordingly in order to improve the county’s security.
He noted that the Nigerian Army is also expanding its aviation assets adding that plans are on-going to provide helicopters for Operation Whirl Stroke to improve response timing even as he assured the Benue State Government of the Nigerian Army’s commitment to restoring lasting peace in the state.
Among those who accompanied the Chief Of Army Staff during the visit was the Sector Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke.
