Former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Gen. Azubike Ihejirika, disclosed
that he was able to tackle insecurity, especially the Boko Haram
terrorists during his tenure by increasing the strength of the Nigerian
Army in the span of three years.
The ex army chief said with the strategy employed, the problem of
insecurity was rapidly detected, which led to the prevention of a major
problem that would have increased the challenges of insecurity that the
country is currently being confronted with.
Ihejirika stated this at the weekend in Abuja at a Reunion and Gala
Night of 18 Regular Course of the Nigerian Army at the weekend in Abuja.
“We were able to identify the nature of and complexity of the problem,
we went ahead to quickly increased the strength of the army by 25
percent in the span of three years”, he said.
He added, “Without that, it would have been a major issue because of
several commitment both internally and externally when Nigerian Army was
involved in foreign operations.”
Speaking further on his major achievement during his tenure, Ihejirika
said the Nigerian Army Language Institute (NALI) was established at Ovim
in Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State saying it was aimed at
facilitating the integration of the Nigerian Army with other
neighboring countries.
“The idea was to give Nigerian Army the capacity to collaborate with
other countries. Nigerian being a nation surrounded by francophone
countries and with time, other languages will be taught”, he explained.
He added that he also established the institute to help Nigerian
soldiers on peace keeping mission to fluently communicate after
observing the poor nature of communication between the Nigerian soldiers
and their colleagues from neighbouring non-English-speaking countries.
The former COAS said the Nigerian Army as part of his mandate, has set
different languages as parts of the criteria for junior officers to be
promoted.
He said, ” with time , other Languages of interest will be taught but it
is important to note that since the army has gone further to make
different languages parts of the requirements for the promotion of
junior officers.”