Chief of Army Staff, Lt.Gen Tukur Buratai, on Tuesday, tasked civil authorities to adopt effective mechanism towards fighting the ideological, social and propaganda of Boko Haram insurgents in their respective domains.
The COAS stated this during the decoration of newly-promoted personnel from various army divisions, brigade and other formations across the country. in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
Buratai, who decorated 45 newly promoted personnel recently elevated from the ranks of Brig. General to Major Generals, noted that military and other security operatives needed the active role of the civil authorities in combating the bad doctrines of the militant group.
“The issues of indoctrination and propaganda by the terrorists must be stopped as civil authorities must come in to fight these. These are the surest way to finally defeat the insurgents.
“Similarly, the Nigeria Police Force must be fully on the ground in all the states in the North East. Civil administration must be fully re-established in all the LGAs”, He said.
While decorating the elevated officers with their new ranks, Lt. Gen. Buratai charged them to consider the gesture as a challenge towards boosting their morale to be more dedicated in the ongoing counter-insurgency operations.
“The choice of this venue for the investiture is predicated on the need to boost the morale of troops in the Theatre and also to celebrate your elevation with the law abiding people of the North East, who enjoy normalcy today as a result of the fruit of your service. Nigeria will always remain our constituency and we all must be 100 per cent committed to maintaining its territorial integrity.
“The large number of you that have merited to be promoted to this enviable rank of Major General indicates the significant attainment of my vision of having a professionally and responsive Nigerian Army in the Discharge of its constitutional Roles. “He said.
According to him, the beneficiaries were carefully selected based on their performance, experience, patriotism and display of excellent character in the course of their responsibilities.
“Several factors were considered for your promotion and you should take it as a challenge to expidite more action in displaying professionalism and combat readiness to maintain the degration of Boko Haram elements in the north east as well as fight all forms of criminality in various parts of the country.
“It is often said that promotion is a privilege and comes from God but again, without hard work, it is difficult to promote anyone. It is on this premise that I commend all the newly promoted senior officers for their hard work, loyalty and dedication to duty. I will, however, enjoin you not to relent in your efforts but rather to see this elevation as a call to higher responsibilities, re-dedication and loyalty to the Service and to the nation”, the army chief said.
He explained that for the past two and half years, a lot of achievements have been recorded in the areas of training, fight against insurgency here in the North East, containment of militancy, welfare and infrastructural development was taken to a new level.
” It is often said that, to whom much is given, much is equally expected. Therefore, on this auspicious occasion, I command you to see yourselves as key players that will drive my vision of taking the Nigerian army to the level of having an army that will be the envy and pride of other nations.
“As you are decorated , the next mantle of leadership of the army will fall on your shoulders. You are, therefore, expected to show commitment to be more dedicated and focused in the discharged of your responsibilities. You must put at the back of your minds the challenges of the counter-insurgency in the North East. In fact, the reason for bringing this decoration to the North East and indeed to Borno State is to underscore the importance of our counter-insurgency operations in the security architecture of our country.
“For those that were not promoted, I urge them not to be discouraged but to see it as a challenge to work harder. As we are all aware, insurgency is a difficult war that requires all hands to be on deck for it to be effectively tackled and finally destroyed. The Nigerian army has played her role satisfactorily. We have won the ground war and the insurgenta substantially degraded. We have secured Nigeria’s territorial integrity and equally maintained her sovereignty.
“We have carried out our tasks proudly and professionally. What is remaining now is for other stakeholders – the political class and intelligence community – to take up the salient aspects of this war to the remaining ill-fated insurgents. Therefore, the final defeat of the remnants of the Boko Haram elements and the stabilization efforts in conjunction with other security agencies must be uppermost in your minds,” the army chief observed.
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