Headlines
Army Chief Reiterates Commitment to Personnel Training
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Faruk Yahaya, has restated the commitment of the Nigerian Army towards the training of its personnel in maintaining peace and tranquility in the country.
The Army Chief, while speaking at the commencement of the 2022 Nigerian Army’s Second Commanding Officer’s workshop at the Gingiya Barracks in Sokoto, said training and retraining personnel was very critical to achieving success.
Yahaya further noted that doing so would help in equipping officers with global best practices. He assured that the Nigerian Army was working round the clock to ensure the Nigerian space was safe for citizens.
“All aspects of training activities must be in line with acceptable best practices. It will receive priority to attain the desired professional requirements to bring to an end the plethora of security challenges confronting the country at the moment.
“It is therefore my hope that the workshop will go a long way to redirect the perspective of our personnel to the best way to provide practical solutions to the contemporary security challenges facing our country.”
The second 2022 workshop had its theme as “Equipment Maintenance and Operational Efficiency: The Role of Operational and Tactical Level Commanders in the Nigerian Army as well as Sister Services Through Interagency Corporation”
Speaking earlier in his welcome address at the five days workshop, the General Officer Commander, 8 Division, Major Uwem Bassey, urged participants to bring their wealth of experience to bear towards finding a permanent solution to insecurity in the country.
Also speaking in his goodwill message, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, commend the Nigerian Army for their selfless service to the nation.
Sultan, who is also a retired senior army officer, said “once a General is always a General, I am always happy to be in the midst of my colleagues. They are doing their best and we will continue to pray for them.”
The Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in his address assured that the state would continue to have a good relationship not only the Nigerian Army but all the security agencies in the state.
He called on the President, Major General Muhammad Buhari (retd.), to give priority to the challenges faced by the Army by providing more equipment to help them in the discharge of their constitutional duties.
He, however, urged them to take the maintenance of the ones at hand seriously, which he said would help in achieving strategic results against element of insecurities in the country.
According to Tambuwal, enabling the army will not only boost soldiers’ morale for effective service delivery, but also enhance inter-agency relationship, which is fundamental in their quest and drive towards establishment of peace in the country.
Tambuwal added that the Nigerian Army needed more equipment, training and retraining on how to maintain it, stating that maintenance was key in every human endeavour especially when it came to equipment, as complex and important as the one the soldiers and security operatives were using.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
