Army Inaugurate Counter Terrorism Centre

The Nigerian Army on Thursday in Jaji, near Kaduna, inaugurated the  temporary site of its Counter Terrorism and  Insurgency Centre, as part of efforts to transform the military. 

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, said the centre was established to raise the standard of training of its officers to the highest level.                Dambazau said the effort was also to conform with the environment, both internally and internationally, especially in fighting terrorism.

   “We are also involved in supporting the United Nations in its peace-keeping effort around the world. “So,  this is part of the overall efforts of the Nigerian Army to complement what it has been doing to ensure peace around the world.

   “This is not a new thing for us; we are just making a small thing grow bigger.

   “The centre has been a special warfare wing in the Nigerian Army School of Infantry where we train our soldiers in special operations.

   “But we are expanding it, making it autonomous centre where all aspects of special operations will be carried out in terms of training,” Dambazau said.

   The army chief noted that the issue of security was dynamic, saying that there was no country in the world with 100 percent security proof.

    “With time, there are  lots of challenges and when these challenges come, we devise methods of tackling them and this is one of the ways,” Dambazau said.                           Brig.-Gen. Williams Obene, Commandant of Army Infantry School, said the upsurge in the activities  of terrorists and their organisations world wide was a matter of grave concern to governments.

   He said in Nigeria, the problems of militancy in the Niger-Delta and the proliferation of fundamentalist religious groups, were breeding the culture of impunity to achieve their economic, political or religious objectives.

   “It is in view of these threats to national security and in line with the Army’s vision for a more robust and quantitative counter terrorism training that it mooted the idea of establishing the centre,” Obene said. 

    Our correspondent reports that the foundation laying ceremony for the centre was performed by the Minister of Defence, Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode.