Since 2009, Nigeria has been fighting Boko Haram insurgents in the northeast of the country and at the start of the conflict, the ill-equipped and often out-numbered troops were overwhelmed by the terrorists. In late 2014 and early last year, when Boko Haram was at the height of its strength, whole battalions were known to flee in the wake of terrorist attacks, prompting the need for a rethink of tactics.
As part of the ensuing review, General Buratai said number have to be increased substantially as the army needs to address its manpower requirements to match the contemporary threats to national security. He added that the army plans to increase its personnel strength from its present 100,000 to slightly above 200,000 over the next eight years.
General Buratai who revealed this while delivering a lecture paper entitled Nigerian Army: Challenges and Future Perspectives at the National Defence College, Abuja, said 12,000 personnel would be recruited in 2016 alone. He added that they would fill vacancies created as a result of the new establishments within the army.
According to the chief of army staff, the effort is aimed at boosting the military's response capacity even though the ability of the existing personnel to effectively deal with the present challenges is not in doubt. However, General Buratai said that contemporary national security needs and Nigeria’s territorial size requires more soldiers than the army presently has in terms of personnel strength.
As a result, in line with its expansion needs, the army has established the Nigerian Army Eighth and Sixth Divisions to be located in the northern part of Borno State and the south-south geo-political zone respectively. General Buratai said the establishment of the new divisions is part of a strategic plan by the army to boost military operations against insurgents, particularly in areas around the Lake Chad Basin.
He added that he new division would now make Borno State a host to two army divisions following the creation of the Seventh Mechanised Division of Nigeria Army, based in Maiduguri in August 2013. It was created to tackle the then rising Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.
General Buratai said: “We have established the Eight Division located in the northern part of Borno State, specifically to clear the area of the remaining terrorist elements, while another division, the Sixth Division, will be established in the south-south. 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."
According to General Buratai, today, Boko Haram can no longer hold any territory as it used to be in the past that is why it has resorted to the use of improved explosive devices to hit soft targets. He emphasised that the establishment of the additional army divisions would bring the total number of divisions in the Nigerian Army to eight.
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