COAS: Nigerian Army Will Defend the Ballot, Begins Early Security Strategy for 2027
As the nation sets its sights on the 2027 general elections, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Waidi Shaibu, has moved to allay fears of electoral violence by assuring citizens of the North Central region of a secure environment to exercise their civic rights. During his operational tour of Benue State on Tuesday, the COAS emphasized that proactive measures are already being activated to deter criminal actors and prevent any disruption of the democratic process.
“Let there be no misunderstanding: the Nigerian Army is fully committed to the protection of democracy,” Lt Gen Shaibu stated. “We are not waiting for 2027 to arrive before we act. We are working now, today, to ensure that when the time comes, every citizen can cast their vote without intimidation, without fear, and without the shadow of violence hanging over them.”
The COAS stressed that the ongoing military operations across Benue, Nasarawa, and Taraba States are intrinsically linked to the stability of the upcoming elections. He explained that by dismantling armed groups and criminal networks now, the Army is effectively denying spoilers the opportunity to exploit the electoral period for chaos. He assured that security architecture is being reviewed to address potential flashpoints, ensuring that troops are strategically positioned to respond to any threat to the polls. “The ballot box is sacred, and we will defend it with everything we have,” he affirmed.
COAS COMMISSIONS OFFICIAL RESIDENCE OF 1 DIVISION RSM
The Chief of Army Staff(COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya has commissioned newly completed official residence of the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of 1 Division, Nigerian Army and several other quarters for Senior Non -commissioned Officers in Dalet Cantonment, Kawo, Kaduna. The COAS commissioned the new residential quarters, today Tuesday 25 Jan 2022 during an operational visit to Headquarters 1 Division, Nigerian Army.
Speaking during the commissioning, General Yahaya averred that RSMs are very vital in the management of soldiers and play the crucial role of inculcating discipline, as well as promoting ethos, traditions and doctrinal values of the Nigerian Army, amongst personnel in formations and units. He acknowledged that service discipline and experiential knowledge imbibed from RSMs by soldiers, build the foundation of trust and confidence, which enhance stability of formations and units across the Nigerian Army.
The COAS maintained, that commissioning of the buildings is part of his welfare agenda for the RSMs, aimed at restoring the prestige of the office. He later handed over keys of the building to Army Warrant Officer(AWO) Adams Bamidele, the RSM of 1 Division, Nigerian Army.
It will be recalled, that since assumption of office, the COAS has through his Command policies and administration, been boosting troops’ morale and reinvigorating their fighting will, with the prompt implementation of welfare policies and dispensation of welfare packages, such as the introduction of welfare flights for troops and their families, in and out of Operational theatres, construction of new accommodation quarters and renovation of dilapidated ones, to solve personnel’s accommodation challenges and sponsoring of Wounded in Action officers and soldiers for treatment overseas. He has also presented Hilux vehicles to serving and retired RSMs to restore the dignity associated with the office and empower them to effectively carry out their duties.
ONYEMA NWACHUKWU
Brigadier General
Director Army Public Relations
25 January 2022
COAS FELICITATES WITH OFFICERS, SOLDIERS, FAMILIES ON ARMED FORCES REMEMBRANCE DAY CELEBRATION 2022…Assures of care for the injured
The Chief of Army Staff(COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya has felicitated with officers, soldiers and their families on the occasion of the Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration (AFRDC) 2022. The COAS conveyed his felicitation in a Goodwill Message on Friday 7 January 2022 at the Army Headquarters, Abuja. In his goodwill message, Gen Yahaya noted that the Celebration, is organized annually in recognition of our fallen heroes; gallant men and women, who paid the supreme price in the defence of peace, unity and prosperity of our dear nation, Nigeria and the world at large.
He reiterated that many of the fallen heroes laid down their lives during the First and Second World Wars, Nigerian Civil War, Peace Support Operations across the globe and various Internal Security Operations, including ongoing fight against insurgency, terrorism, banditry and secesionism, amongst other threats to national security.
The COAS maintained that their sacrifices will never be forgotten and prayed for the repose of their souls. The AFRDC, he said also presents an opportunity to honour veterans who are still alive. He stressed that many of the veterans regrettably sustained varying degrees of injuries in the course of their service to the nation and humanity. He added that care for the injured and maimed personnel will remain a cardinal focus under his command.
While appreciating troops for their sacrifices in achieving success across all spectrum of operations conducted by the Nigerian Army(NA), he urged them not to relent but to sustain and consolidate on the successes recorded so far.
The COAS called on officers and soldiers of the NA to be loyal to constituted authority and ensure greater collaboration and synergy with sister Services and other Security Agencies in the pursuit of peace and security in Nigeria. He equally used the medium to reaffirm the unalloyed loyalty of the NA under his watch to the President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
ONYEMA NWACHUKWU
Brigadier General
Director Army Public Relations
This was contained in a statement signed by his SA Media and Publicity, Honourable Ibrahim Dahiru Danfulani, dated January 5, 2022.
“I heartily felicitate with the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya as he marks another milestone on the occasion of his 56th birthday,” it said
Zailani said just like wine, the older the better, he is optimistic that the new age comes with more wisdom and experience to help Nigerian Army succumb the various security challenges bedeviling the country.
“I am optimistic that he will consolidate on the successes achieved since he was appointed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,” he said.
It would be recalled that the COAS, General Yahaya was born on January 5, 1966 in Bodinga Local Government Area, Sokoto State.
He is a Lieutenant General of the Nigerian Army and the 22nd Chief of Army Staff of Nigeria, appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari on May 27, 2021.
Following the heightened insecurity enveloping almost all the geo political zones in Nigeria, Femi Oyewale, President, National Association of Online Security Reporters, NAOSRE, has raised concerns over cautionary comments alluding to an allegation that some leaders are plotting to overthrow the government.
The Presidency, on Tuesday, claimed it has evidence to the effect that some elements are recruiting ethnic groups and politicians to convene a conferences where a vote of no confidence would be passed on the President.
Reacting, Oyewale emphasized the patriotic efforts made by the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, who, on assumption of office, recovered all the territories previously occupied by insurgents as well as put in check suicide bombing.
Oyewale stated that during Buratai’s period, sanity was gradually retuning to the system and military personnel were pre occupied with engaging the insurgents for a safer Nigeria.
“At no time were there insinuations of attempting to overthrow government because soldiers were happy to defend Nigeria. We were not receiving DSS alert on overthrowing government during Buratai,” he said.
He however wondered how, within few months, the country has been turned into turmoil and insecurity has assumed freighting and disintegrating dimensions.
The NAOSRE President therefore called on the present Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Attahiru, to deploy Tukur Buratai’s strategies and sustain his efforts even as he concurs with Philip Agbese’ submissions, reproduced below
Combating terrorism or insurrections are acknowledged globally as quite arduous assignments. Soldiers who command such warfares must be necessarily be brave, courageous and determined combatants of the trenches. It’s not a task for the faint- hearted!
The ex-Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and leader of the counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria, retired Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, remonstrated these rare qualities abundantly when he scored the shots on the podium of terrorism combats in the country.
But a very honest verdict on the ex-COAS, as the honcho of anti-insurgency operations in the country from May 2015 to January 2021 can only be gleaned from the enduring whirlwind of his exploits, long after he quitted active service.
Even unpatriotic misanthropes can sight the legacies of Buratai which have refused to be fogged by the thickness of billowing smokes; whether of partisan and ethno-religious flavors, as peculiarly Nigerian.
Buratai’s successor, the incumbent COAS and ombudsman of the counter-insurgency operations, Lt.Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru might not be caught unawares by the new assignment. But its certain, his predecessor, Buratai left a big-sized shoe, quite uneasy to wear effectively.
An introspection of what constituted the defining principles and convictions, Gen. Buratai weaponized to wilt the storm of insurgencies and insurrections in the country for six long years would certainly prop up the image of a strong leadership character in his persona.
Even dispassionate outsiders attested loudly to Buratai’s palpable, unshaken and unfractured patriotism and loyalty to Nigeria. He could be jovial with his subordinates to a fault; but upheld the sacred military doctrines of professionalism, loyalty and discipline.
He dispensed himself to soldiers generally as a father, blood brother, welfarist, amiable boss, compassionate leader, trustworthy compatriot and courageous warrior in the trenches. Boko Haram factional leaders, both Abubakar Shekau and the ISIS-backed Musab Al Barnewi, in alliance with Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky of the IMN or Shiites in Nigeria, another terrorist’s sect, wished Buratai dead for his uncompromising stand.
Leaders of these sects operating in Nigeria, vigorously pursued the agenda of eliminating Buratai through terrorists’ ambushes of his convoy in the Northeast and the assassination plot hatched against him in Zaria by IMN. Though he faced death multiple times in the trenches, but remained resolute and undeterred.
Buratai’s NDA course mate and friend, who retired much earlier, Major Daniel Banjo (rtd), recalled when he requested for a thanksgiving service in his home state for the ex-COAS; “I remember, about three times, he (Buratai) called me in the middle of the night. He was at the warfront. He would call and say things are happening here and Nigerians are not appreciative of what we are doing…He wouldn’t sleep for weeks. He was ambushed three times and he jumped into the bush with his men, with Kalashnikov (AK-47 rifles) and they would be able to kill some and arrest some.”
Hate or love him, but it never escaped the sight that Buratai was relentless and untiring. His troops often chortled among themselves whether this boss ever slept or thought of a beloved family which also needed his attention.
He sprung surprises of a talisman with his presence everywhere in the warfront, day and night, from North to South. He constantly visited troops and supervised Army units and formations to ensure planned Internal Security (IS) operations or projects progress smoothly and unencumbered. He tolerated no excuses for failure from troops on any assignment.
And to bolster performance and unalloyed loyalty, Buratai also, religiously fulfilled his own part of the bargain by ensuring troops legitimate entitlements and allowances were promptly delivered to them, even in the frontlines. It was one of the many things Buratai got right and it really worked for the Nigerian Army, especially for the troops in the frontlines on terrorism combating expeditions.
He treated the families of troops like his cherished assets and personal family. Buratai paid frequent visits to Army barracks, interacted with wives of soldiers, listened to their problems and remedied them immediately. Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association (NAOWA) explored new frontiers in economic empowerment of wives of soldiers through various multi-purpose cooperative investments initiatives.
The ex-army chief further boosted the morale of his troops with packages such as the COAS special allowances and incentives, like special recognitions’ and instant or accelerated promotion of troops who demonstrated proven gallantry, courage and exceptional excellence in the frontlines.
The expansion and re-equipping of the of the Nigerian Army was another was a focal policy of retired Buratai’s leadership. He relaunched the Nigerian Army on the path of manufacturing its own small and light weapons in the combat of terrorism, innovatively using home-grown technology and human resources’.
Under his reign, the Nigerian Army established two new Army Divisions 6 and 8, in Borno and Rivers states; a dozen Forward Operations Bases (FOBs) and Special Task Force units across the country in strict compliance with the new Order of Battle (ORBAT). The initiative brought security closer to Nigerians, boosted troops rapid responses to distress calls from entrapped Nigerians and the operational effectiveness of soldiers in operations.
Nigerian soldiers were endeared to Gen. Buratai and performed their official assignments with glee because he prioritized the building of infrastructures for soldiers and officers of the Nigerian Army. He had stringent focus or absolute belief in the welfare of troops in multiple ways and he knew, soldiers deserve at least minimum comforts to function splendidly. So, he erected new office and residential accommodation for soldiers.
Therefore, Buratai aggressively relaunched the Nigerian Army on the path of its lost glory in revolutionary style. The former army chief embarked on ambitious projects such as the massive construction of new army barracks, renovations of dilapidated barracks and army formations, their upgrade and re-equipment with state-of-the-art facilities; resuscitation of moribund Army training institutions and the building of new ones, namely, the Army War College, the Army Aviation School and the Nigerian Army University, Biu.
Buratai garnished it with the generous renovations/upgrades of existing, but outdated army hospitals and the building of new Army Referral hospitals to carter for the Medicare of soldiers, their families and members of Army host communities. These were legacy projects, signposts of focused leadership, the pillars and inerasable footprints of his leadership that publicized a reformed Nigerian Army in conduct and performance.
The former army chief understood clearly that the success of Nigeria’s anti-insurgency combats basically depended on the assistance of foreign nations in weaponry and technical support. He was conscious of the prohibitions on human rights abuses by soldiers as enshrined in the Leahy Act amendment law. Besides, as a humane and compassionate leader, Buratai was conscious of the human dignity of all Nigerians. He never shirked from punishing erring soldiers.
Consequently, records of his observance of human rights were unequalled in the history of the Nigerian Army. He established the novel Human Rights Desk in the Nigerian Army, manned by a desk officer, and structured in an accessible manner to all Nigerians by its replication in all major Army formations throughout the country. The Army human rights desk handled, redressed and dispensed hundreds of cases between soldiers and civilians.
The Nigerian Army was under the plague of meagre budgets for its operations, even in the age of consuming insurgency. Therefore, Buratai imbibed the spirit of transparency, accountability and judicious application of Army resources for maximum effects. Lack of transparency in the administration of Army resources’ engendered distrust, dissension and rebellion among officers and soldiers.
Foremostly, Buratai resolved the problem by switching over to e-governance in consonance with the policy of the federal government. He established the Army Procurement Department; migrated the Nigerian Army into the IPPIS payment system, and halted the culture of table payment of allowances/entitlements to troops in the warfront, which often led to avoidable complaints of diversion.
The former leader of counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria was a famed Military strategist, tactician and foresighted leader. Therefore, his clairvoyance pricked him of the looming threat of Cyberspace terrorism in combating insurgency in Nigeria. In order to clip the wings of cyberspace terrorists, who were largely Boko Haram sympathizers’ and agents, Buratai built and launched the Nigerian Army Cyberspace Warfare Command. Its mandate mainly is to secure Army’s classified information from leakage to enemies and certify the preservation of sensitive documents.
Added to it, Buratai upgraded and re-equipped the Department of Army Public Relations (DAPR)) to handle fake news and propaganda syndrome on the counter-insurgency operations in the country. The DAPR operated 24hours a day and proactively deflected terrorists’ propaganda which previously caused unnecessary public anxiety and panic.
To this end, good leadership examples are worthy of emulation. The onus falls on Gen. Attahiru, who is also an old horse in the game to sustain and improve on these legacies of Buratai by moving a notch higher to turn the table against Boko Haram. It is the necessary antidote the incumbent Army leadership has to adopt, if it wants to really succeed to finally cripple insurgents.
It’s no longer news that Nigerians are unwittingly beginning to celebrate the Buratai days. But Nigerians want to celebrate the Army at all times and the only alternative is to kick harder, harder than Buratai ever did. Attahiru should be mindful of news of Boko Haram dreadful presence in Niger state and predictively, Abuja is now donated to the mercy of terrorists.
But fundamentally, all the incumbent Service Chiefs have already clocked 100 days since their appointment on January 26, 2021. Quite unimpressively, media reports are awash with news that 741 Nigerians have been killed by Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists, armed bandits, herdsmen and arsonists across the country. Neither is it exciting that the southern part of the country is also contending with lethal kidnapping syndicates and killer herdsmen conundrum. Nigerians are no longer singing joyful songs which heralded the new service chiefs and there is need to redouble the efforts.
National Security Adviser, NSA, Mohammed Babagana Monguno has embarrassed the Presidency, yet again.
Monguno, during an interview with BBC Hausa Service apportioned blames sayings budgeted funds for arms and ammunition may not have been properly utilized, a development that has caused rift in the Presidency.
Arising from his statement, the National Association of Online Security Reporters, NAOSRE gathered that Monguno has been under fire owing to this careless statement.
Dependable sources availed that this is not the first time the NSA would be causing rift in the Presidency owing to unguarded statements.
“He knows about the defence budget and how monies are being spent. But to come out and apportion blames on former service chiefs by way of saying monies are missing as well as embarrass the Presidency in the Hausa BBC interview seems to be the height of incompetence,” a top Nigerian told NAOSRE.
Meanwhile, the NSA has issued a clarification saying he was quoted out of context and that he never said funds were missing.
The statement reads in part:
“The attention of the Office of the National Security Adviser has been drawn to some media reports regarding Armed Forces equipment during an interview with the BBC Hausa service.
“We would like to state that the NSA was quoted out of context as he did not categorically say that funds meant for arms procurement were missing under the Former Service Chiefs as reported or transcribed by some media outlets from the BBC interview.
“During the interview, the National Security Adviser only reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to deal decisively with insecurity and stated President Muhammadu Buhari’s continued commitment to provide all necessary support to the Armed Forces, including the provision of arms and equipment.
“In the interview, the National Security Adviser clearly informed the BBC reporter that Mr President has provided enormous resources for arms procurement, but the orders were either inadequate or yet to be delivered and that did not imply that the funds were misappropriated under the former Service Chiefs. The NSA also informed the reporter that, Mr President is following up on the procurement process as is usual with contracts relating to military equipments, in most cases the process involves manufacturing, due diligence and tedious negotiations that may change delivery dates.”
It should however be recalled that Mohammed Babagana Monguno, current National Security Adviser is a retired Nigerian military general. He was the Chief of Defence Intelligence from July 2009 to September 2011 and the Commander of the Brigade of Guards from 2007 to 2009.
Nigerian Army has landed in its best of times on infrastructural provisions and exceptional welfare packages under the leadership of the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lieutenant General Buratai, says Thomas Uzah, Ph.D, Head of Department, Mass Communication, Kwararafa University Wukari, Taraba State, in this piece made available to NAOSRE
It will be twisted logic and misplaced sense of judgment of the exact reality to assert that the Nigerian Army (NA) is having good times in infrastructural provisions under the supervision of its current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai, more appropriate to say, the Nigerian Army has landed in its best of times on infrastructural provisions and exceptional welfare packages under the leadership of the COAS, Gen. Buratai.
Before the reality of the leadership of Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari, discerning Nigerians knew several other salient reasons accounted for the persistent open anger expressed by soldiers in the warfront. The persistent mutinous actions by troops at the frontlines fighting Boko Haram was partly attributable to poor troops’ welfare occasioned by absolute neglect and dilapidated infrastructur and accommodation for officers and soldiers.
Soldiers experienced and endured dilapidated Barracks, acute shortage of office and residential accommodations, poor state of Army Guest Houses and camps throughout the country. Some Army Barracks had not tested any flavour of renovation or rehabilitation since Nigeria’s first post-independence era Defence Minister, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu built the structures in the early sixties. History has recorded him as a leader who massively built new Barracks and renovated old ones.
Like Ribadu; Gen. Buratai has carved an enviable niche for himself in the new Millennium as an Army Chief who has generously built new Barracks for the Army and massively renovated old ones in virtually all parts of the country. African proverb says, a chic which would grow into a cock is known the very it is hatched.
So, Gen. Buratai started exuding the signs of a genuine leader, reformer, a positive minded personality and charismatic goal-getter on all fronts the first day he assumed office as Nigeria’s COAS. He toured Army formations and units across the country; bemoaned the competitively dilapidated state of Army Barracks and facilities, whilst he silently took notes on the urgent interventions each of the Barracks required to transform into a habitable befitting dwelling place for soldiers.
The Army boss believes in the philosophy that a soldier deserves the best in peacetime because he faces death every minute in wartimes.Though, Gen. Buratai sauntered unto the leadership of the NA at the time Nigeria was plunged into economic crunch. But the reality of meagre budgetary votes and insufficient funding of the Army to date did not deter Gen. Buratai from putting smiles on the faces of officers and soldiers.
With a supportive Commander-In-Chief, President Buhari, Gen. Buratai has propelled the NA on an unprecedented and incredible structural expansion and physical development in the last five years. He corrected and normalized what appeared to have been a carelessly institutionalized structural decay and degeneration of almost three decades in barely five years of his leadership.
And the real good news is that the Army Chief has not felt he has done enough to assuage the depravities of his Comrades in the profession of arms’ yet. Therefore, he hungers to accomplish more in impactful legacies for the NA. And to properly uplift Army personnel’s welfare, Gen, Buratai has starched an extra mile to partner with private estate developers to berth his vision of normalizing the accommodation deficits, which hitherto plagued the NA for decades.
Reputed as a focused, dynamic and foresighted leader, with a functional mind, Gen. Buratai has conceptualized and delivered his development agenda for the NA under the broad divisions of policy frameworks of NA Property Limited and NA Welfare Limited by Guarantee, Army Post-Service Housing Scheme and NA Farms and Ranches among a motley of others.
Gen. Buratai is a man of taste and elegance. And one unique feature of Buratai’s touch on structural transformation of the Army is that he has phased out the Lord Lugard’s structures which dotted Army formations/Barracks across Nigeria and replaced them with modern, befitting and well furnished accommodation. And the new buildings are also an aesthetic consummation of the dynamism of architecture’s latest wonders of awful edifices. They are a sight to behold anywhere in the world. He replaced obsolete amenities, facilities and equipment in the Army Barracks and units with state-of-the art latest models.
The establishment of two new Divisions of the NA by Gen. Buratai in conformity with the Presidential directive on new NA Order of Battle (ORBAT) is not the most cheering news. But it is the pleasant shock that the new Divisions 6 and 8 in Port Harcourt, Rivers state and Sokoto are fully operationalized. And it is because the Army Chief worked assiduously to get all the needed structures, manpower and equipment ready within record time.
Gen. Buratia has replicated the same portrait in the new and novel Nigerian Army University Biu (NAUB); the first Nigerian Army War College, the Nigerian Army Aviation Command, Nigerian Army Women Corps, Command Engineering Depot Kaduna, Special Forces Command, Special Forces School at Buni Yadi as well as the renovation and construction of new buildings at the Nigerian Army School of Artillery in Kachia, Kaduna State. He renovated and modernized the Office of the Military Secretary at the Army Headquarters Abuja; built and equipped the first well organized and effectively manned think thank Centre per excellence – the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) located at strategic area of Asokoro Abuja, which is serving the dual purpose of an alternate office accommodation and modern resource venue for workshops and seminars for the army and qualified public organisations and individuals.
Still in Abuja, the fanciful modern structures at the recently built and commissioned Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment at Giri, consisting of new 150 flats of accommodation in the Barracks accommodating 150 families of officers and soldiers is legendary in the recent history of the Nigerian Army. Okene in Kogi State has also hosted a new Army Forward Operations Base and military barracks. So also the latest building, manning and equipping of Cyber warfare Command Office Complex, Cyber Operations Centre and Nigerian Army Intelligence and Cyber Warfare School at Giri-Abuja.
The testimony also reflected at the newly built various Nigerian Army Super Camps across the volatile locations in Nigeria to facilitate the defeat of terrorism, Armed banditry and other insecurities across the nation.The structural development inclination of Gen. Buratai started quite early in his leadership. By 2016, the renovation of 10 blocks of 30 flats each at the Maxwell Khobe Cantonment, Jos was completed. So also the dramatic renovation and expansion of Army headquarters Complex in Abuja.
The development streak descended on the 3 Brigade Kano, where new blocks of multiple flats of accommodation for soldiers in the Bukavu Barracks, Kano have been completed. It amazingly displays two newly constructed blocks of 24 flats each and five renovated blocks of 12 flats each. Still under Gen. Buratai’s leadership, the NA renovated and remodeled accommodation for 120 soldiers in Ribabu Cantonment and Dalet Barracks, under 1 Division Kaduna, comprising of flashy 120 flats.
Similarly in 8 Division Lagos area, – specifically – in 9 Brigade Ikeja multiple accommodation for soldiers and officers have been renovated and new ones were built. There, in ikeja Cantonment, a befitting accommodation for NA pilots has recently been completed and commissioned by Gen Buratai.
And the NA’s partnership with Betonic West Limited has launched a N7.5 billion Army Post-Service Housing project in Otukpo and Ohimini LGAs of Benue state. The same rewarding partnership with Belemaoil Producing Limited, has earned the Army a 3-story building containing 30 flats at the 16 Brigade Headquarters, Camp Buratai, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Gen. Buratai has intentionally established a dozen Army Forward Operations Bases throughout Nigeria with all the necessary facilities to checkmate all forms of insecurity in Nigeria.
Quite impactfully too, the NA under Gen. Buratai has rehabilitated, re-equipped all existing Army hospitals, medical facilities and Referral hospitals across Nigeria. Two new reference hospitals have been approved and are under construction in 7 Division Maiduguri and 82 Division Area of Responsibility located at Abakaliki in Ebonyi State.The aim is to give the best medical care to Wounded in Action troops and members of their families as well as members of the public/host communities.
The reference hospitals are meant to provide effective healthcare services, – more accessible and affordable to soldiers, their families and members of the host communities. Gen. Buratai is indeed, the NA’s Mr. Infrastructure. He is indefatigable, charismatic and pragmatic leader and military commander of the highest order!Even at the risk of flattery, it is more accurate to say that NA has never experienced these robust structural developments and expansions in her over 100 years of existence as seen during the period of Gen. Buratai. There is a saying in the NA that the period 2015 – 2020 is the Golden Moment of the Nigerian Army as factually articulated in the Compendium of Nigerian Army Transformation: The Buratai Years – 2015 – 2020. This book objectively presents the remarkable transformation of the Nigerian Army under the leadership of Gen Buratai.
Therefore, it is obvious that there is no COAS since post -independence Nigeria that has dramatically upgraded structures, welfare, training and professional standing or disposition of the NA like Gen. Buratai. He has evidently done so much to better the lot of his officers and men more than any other COAS in the history of the NA.
Gen. Buratai represents the changing face of NA’s professionalism, rich history, records of operational achievements in the various theatres of Operations. One wonders what our country would have become in the absence of men and women of Buratai’s caliber especially in the face deliberately and politically engineered insurrection like the “ENDSARS cannibalism” in Nigeria.
