From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The Military has said that it is retraining troops in the counter-terrorism operation in the North East due to current and emerging developments in the theatre of war.
Theatre Commander, Joint Task Force North East Operation Hadin Kai, Maj. Gen. Golden Chibuisi, gave the reason in his opening remark at a lecture on Soft and Hard Approach to Counter-terrorism and Counter-insurgency, yesterday in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.
“The state of the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism now calls for more attention to the subject of soft and hard approach for countering terrorism. Thousands of terrorists, are giving up the fight and surrendering to the Nigeria state”.
He said this development requires that troops understand new approach and get fresh skill to perform their duties in the operation using both soft and hard method.
The Theatre Commander, who was represented by his deputy, Maj. Gen Olatokunbo Bello, said, “I believe at the end of the training, troops will understand and get better approach to handling terrorists and insurgents.
The training was organized by the Defence Headquarters.
The Defense headquarters team leader, Brig Gen Martias Erebulu, said the training was developed to acquaint troops in the theatre with new approach to handling assymetric war like the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism.
Guest Lecturer, Dr. Adam Abdullahi, who is the Head Defence and Security Studies Department, Centre for Strategic Research and Studies, National Defence College of Nigeria, took participants on the various steps in soft and hard approach.