Nigerian Army establishes special command to tackle Boko Haram

The Nigerian Army has established a Special Operations Command designed to counter the threat of terrorism in the country.


The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, said that the command known as the Nigerian Army Special Operations Command was approved by the Army Council to boost the efforts being made to transform the Nigerian Army into a better fighting force.

Ihejirika said that the command would comprise patriotic soilders willing to face extreme danger in the interest of the country.

According to Ihejirika, the activities of the command will depend on skills and human efforts rather than equipment.

He said that the establishment of such a special operations command would make it easier, less difficult and expensive to carry out counter insurgency operations.

Ihejirika said that the new command would enable the military to strike more accurately with highly reduced collateral damage.

The Army chief said that the US Government had also approved some equipment and training assistance for the newly formed special command of the army.

He said, “I am glad to state that the formation of the Nigerian Army Special Operations Command which was recently approved by the Army Council is an important boost to our transformation efforts.

“A lot of the performance of the command will depend on skills and human efforts rather than equipment and what we are doing is creating a unit of highly patriotic Nigerians ready to make sacrifices in the face of extreme danger.

“Having the special operations command will make operations at the long run less cumbersome and expensive..

“We want a unit that will have the ability to shelve the grains from the wheat, to be more accurate in their target, therefore reducing the incidence of collateral damages.”