Army establishes new division to counter Boko Haram in Borno

The Army has announced the establishment of a new division christened Nigerian Army 8 Division in the north side of Borno State.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai disclosed this on Wednesday while delivering a lecture titled: `Nigerian Army: Challenges and Future Perspectives’, at the National Defence College, Abuja.

Buratai said that the new division would bolster military operations in the areas around the Lake Chad Basin.

News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that Buratai also said that plans were underway to establish another division to be known as the Nigerian Army 6 Division with Headquarters in the South-South region of the country.

He said that the  new divisions would form part of a strategic plan to improve on the Army’s operational capabilities in the face of emerging threats to national security.

"Emerging threats to the security of our nation which have been aggravated by the proliferation of armed groups have added to the task of the military in protecting the lives of Nigerians and the integrity of its territory.

"The focus of the Nigerian Army today is to find lasting solutions to these contemporary threats posed by the activities of the armed groups and their allies.

"The Nigerian Army, therefore, remains poised to the extermination of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria; today, they can no longer hold any territory as it used to be in the past, that is why they have resorted to the use of IEDs to hit soft targets.

"We have established the 8 Division located in the northern part of Borno specifically to clear the area of the remaining terrorist elements while another division, 6 Division, will be established in the South-South,’’ he said.

Buratai also said that the Army would soon embark on a major expansion programme to address its manpower needs to respond effectively to contemporary threats to national security.

He added that the Army planned to increase its personnel strength from its present 100,000 strong-force to a little over 200,000 in the next eight years.

He confirmed that the Nigerian Army would recruit12,000 personnel in 2016 alone to fill the vacancies created as a result of the new establishments in the force.

NAN