Nigerian Army Establishes Two New Divisions In Borno And South South Zone

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Thursday, January 14th, 2016

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant Gen. Tukur Buratai, has confirmed the establishment of new Nigerian Army Divisions – 8 and 6 in the North East and South South zones of the country.

Gen. Buratai, made the confirmation while delivering a lecture titled “Nigerian Army: Challenges and Future Perspectives” at the National Defence College, Abuja.

According to him, the new Divisions are to be sited in the Northern part of Borno State and the South South zone.

Buratai indicated that the establishment of the new Divisions was part of a strategic plan by the Army to boost Military operations against insurgents, particularly in areas around the Lake Chad Basin.

He recalled that in August 2013, the Nigerian Army established the 7th Infantry Division in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital to boost the Military’s counter-insurgency operation in the North-East.

The Army Chief said: “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”.

While promising the Divisions would soon become fully operational with logistics and manpower deployments, Gen. Buratai clarified that the new divisions was part of a strategic plan to improve on the Nigerian Army’s operational capabilities in the face of emerging threats to national security.

He added that the establishment of the additional formations would bring the number of divisions in the Nigerian Army to eight.

“Emerging threats to the security of our nation, which has been aggravated by the proliferation of armed groups, has 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,” Buratai related.

He also indicated that the army would embark on determined expansion programme to address manpower needs of the force to respond appropriately to contemporary threats to national security, as well as planned to increase its personnel strength from the present 100,000 strength force to slightly above 200,000 in the next eight years.

Gen. Buratai promised a total of 12,000 personnel would be recruited in 2016 alone to fill the vacancies created as a result of the new establishments in the army.

The expansion in the Army he added was aimed at boosting its response capacity and established that its capabilities to effectively deal with its present challenges were however not in doubt.

Speaking on the socio-economy state, Gen. Buratai linked Nigeria’s weak industrial base, the effect of climate change on the environment and Nigeria’s porous borders as some of the factors prompting armed conflict in the country.